involves a bone that stands in immediate relation with the bones of the leg. It is advisable, however, that the patient should remain in bed during the period mentioned; for, in not a few instances, the persons thus affected, failing to appreciate the gravity of the injury, walk about before the parts have really healed; and then, for an indefinite period of time, they are frequently reminded in a painful manner of the injury which they received. There is nothing astonishing in this when the fact is recalled to mind that the feet support the entire weight of the body.
[Forty-eight chapters or sections, some of them of
considerable length, are devoted to the subject of fractures.
The authorities are almost unanimous in stating that this
portion of the so-called Hippocratic writings was written
by Hippocrates himself. Malgaigne and Petrequin, two of
the most competent French writers on questions relating
to surgery, declare that the treatises written by Hippocrates
on fractures and dislocations (the two forming
in reality one continuous treatise) are the best and most
complete books ever written by a physician.]
Wounds of the Head.—10. The physician should, first of all,
before touching the patient's head, inspect carefully the wound
and surrounding parts. After noting whether the injury has been
inflicted upon a strong or a weak portion of the head, he should
ascertain whether the hair has been cut by the fall or the blow,
and whether portions of it have penetrated into the wound. In
the latter event he should express his fear that the skull at this
point has been laid bare and has perhaps even received some
material injury. He should make this statement before he has
touched or probed the wound. Then afterward he should proceed
to a physical examination of the injured parts, in order that he
may learn positively whether the overlying soft tissues have or
have not been separated from the bone. If simple inspection
reveals the fact that the skull has been laid bare, well and good;
but, if the real condition is not thus revealed, he should not hesitate
to employ the probe. If he finds that the soft parts have been
separated from the bone and that the latter has been more or less
injured, he should continue this more minute exploration until
he shall have ascertained to just what extent and in what manner
the skull has been injured, and what measures are required to
remedy the damage; in brief, he should make the diagnosis. At the
