from bruising, that surgeons have been induced to remove those portions of them that project, in cases of compound fracture, and to approximate, as nearly as possible, their fractured extremities, with the view of promoting union by the adhesive inflammation[1]. It is surprising to observe the power and success of nature, in reproducing bone in those cases where very large portions of the tissue have been carried away by external violence, and there are many specimens to be found in pathological collections that illustrate this fact.
A great deal depends upon the situation and structure of particular bones, as to the facility with which they will unite, by means of osseous matter, after fracture; for, although in healthy subjects the adhesive inflammation takes place in most situations, to a greater or less extent, still
- ↑ Some interesting information on this subject may be gleaned from an inaugural dissertation by John Ulric Bilguer, surgeon-general to the King of Prussia, on the 'Inutility of the Amputation of Limbs,' published in 1761, and translated into English in 1764. In one case of gunshot wound of the arm, this surgeon sawed off four inches of the ulna, and made a perfect cure. In another case he sawed off five inches of the tibia, and a portion of the fibula, and the patient got well, with a trifling shortening of the limb.
