A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones

Part 1

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Transcriber's notes:

The text of this e-book has been preserved as in the original, including inconsistent capitalisation and hyphenation. Archaic and inconsistent spellings have also been preserved except where obviously misspelled in the original. A list of corrections and inconsistencies is appended at the end of the book.

In this transcription, italic text is denoted by underscores and bold text by *asterisks*.

Footnotes have been renumbered and positioned below the relevant paragraphs.

A TREATISE

FRACTURES, LUXATIONS,

AND OTHER

AFFECTIONS OF THE BONES,

BY P. J. DESAULT,

SURGEON IN CHIEF TO THE HOTEL-DIEU OF PARIS,

WHEREIN HIS OPINIONS AND PRACTICE, IN SUCH CASES, ARE STATED AND EXEMPLIFIED.

EDITED BY XAV. BICHAT;

WITH PLATES.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, BY CHARLES CALDWELL, M. D.

WITH NOTES, AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING SEVERAL LATE IMPROVEMENTS IN SURGERY.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED BY FRY AND KAMMERER, LÆTITIA COURT.

1805.

District of Pennsylvania, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twentieth day of February, in the twenty-ninth year of the independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1805, Charles Caldwell, M. D. of the said district, hath deposited in this Office, the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following to wit:

“A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and other Affections of the Bones, by P. J. Desault, surgeon in chief to the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, wherein his Opinions and Practice, in such cases, are stated and exemplified. Edited by Xav. Bichat; with Plates. Translated from the French, by Charles Caldwell, M. D. With Notes, and an Appendix containing several late improvements in surgery.”

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned:” And also to the act, entitled, “An act supplementary to an act, entitled, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,” and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints.”

D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania.

CONTENTS.

MEMOIR I. PAGE On the Fracture of the Condyls of the lower Jaw, 1

MEMOIR II. On the Fracture of the Clavicle, 8 Explanation of the first Plate, 39

MEMOIR III. On the Luxation of the Clavicle, 41 Luxation of the Sternal extremity, 42 of the Humeral extremity, 54

Part 2

MEMOIR IV. On Fractures of the Acromion, and of the lower angle of the Scapula, 57 Fracture of the Acromion, ib. of the lower angle of the Scapula, 63

MEMOIR V. On the Fractures of the upper end or neck of the Humerus, 67

MEMOIR VI. On the Fracture of the lower extremity of the Humerus, with a separation of the Condyls, 90

MEMOIR VII. On the Luxation of the Humerus, 102

MEMOIR VIII. On the Fracture of the bones of the Fore-arm, 146 Fracture of the Radius, 160 of the Ulna, 167 of the Olecranon, 168

MEMOIR IX. On the Luxation of the Fore-arm, 184

MEMOIR X. On the Luxations of the Radius over the Ulna, 199 Luxation of the lower extremity of the Radius, 204

MEMOIR XI. On the Fractures of the Thigh, 214 Fractures of the body of the Os Femoris, 215 of the upper end of the Os Femoris, 258 of the great Trochanter, ib. of the neck of the Os Femoris, 260 of the lower extremity of the Os Femoris, 280 Explanation of the second Plate, 291 Thoughts on Luxations of the Os Femoris upward and forward, 292

MEMOIR XII. On spontaneous Luxations of the Os Femoris, 299

MEMOIR XIII. On the Fracture of the Rotula, 304

MEMOIR XIV. On the formation of foreign bodies in the joint of the knee, 325 Observations and Reflections on forms of Apparatus for fractures of the leg, 342

(Appareil.) I am fully sensible that the word Apparatus, does not, according to the common acceptation of the term, convey, in English, precisely the same ideas, that the word “appareil” does, in French; but it certainly approaches much nearer to it than any other term found in English works on surgery. It signifies a collection or assemblage of means, used for the attainment of a particular end; and this is, in substance, what Desault meant by the term “appareil.” His “appareil” (apparel) for a broken bone included splints, bandages, bolsters, and every thing else necessary for retaining the fractured ends in apposition. The English reader will naturally enough annex the same ideas to the word Apparatus, as used throughout the present work. I have, therefore, thought proper to adopt it, rather than to introduce a new or uncommon term, and am sure, that, for all practical purposes, it will be found sufficiently expressive of the meaning of the original. And I am much more solicitous to become instrumental in giving some aid to the surgeon in the practice of his profession, than to escape the censure of the fastidious critic.

TRANS.

MEMOIR XV. On the Division of the Tendo Achillis, 355

MEMOIR XVI. On the Fracture of the Os Calcis, 374

MEMOIR XVII. On complicated Luxations of the Foot, 379

APPENDIX.

ARTICLE I. Dr. Physick’s new and successful method of treating an old and obstinate fracture of the os humeri, 403

ARTICLE II. An account of Dr. Physick’s improvement of Desault’s apparatus for making permanent extension in oblique fractures of the os femoris, 407

ARTICLE III. Explanation of the third Plate, 409

PREFACE

BY THE TRANSLATOR.

The business of a translator, though very limited as to its range, may be extensive and important in its consequences, and, though humble in its end, is oftentimes extremely difficult in its nature. Prohibited from adding any thing to, or in any measure transgressing the bounds of, the meaning of his original, he is obligated to interpret that meaning with faithfulness and accuracy. In this latter point consists the difficulty of his task. If several different readers oftentimes attach as many different meanings to parts and sentences of works written in their own language, how much more likely will this be to occur with respect to such as are written in a foreign language? For readers to differ in the former case is common, in the latter unavoidable.

The translator of the following work is far from affirming, that he has in no instance deviated from the meaning of his original. To hazard an assertion like this, would be assuming to himself more than is consistent with modesty or, perhaps, with truth. He trusts, however, that such deviations are very rare, that if they do occur they are but slight in themselves, and never connected with facts or principles of practical importance. He can, at least, very confidently declare, that they have never been the offspring of carelessness or design.

Should any one open this volume in quest of the flowers of fancy, or the embellishments of style, he will close it again without being gratified. Ambitious only of communicating new and useful matter, and too intent on things to be in any measure choice of his words, the celebrated original was regardless, perhaps to a fault, of the ornaments of diction. Rich in the resources of a capacious and exalted intellect, he poured forth his knowledge like precious ore from the mine, leaving to others of inferior capacities the humbler task of refining and polishing it.

With such an example before him, the translator thought it best to follow in some measure the footsteps of his illustrious guide, without venturing to chalk out a new and different track for himself. As his principal object, throughout the work, has been to make himself clearly understood, and that in as few words as practicable, he has never hesitated, when they came in competition, to sacrifice elegance to precision and ornament to perspicuity. He has even in some instances been guilty of intentional tautology, for the purpose of rendering his meaning the more clear and definite. For this he flatters himself he need offer no apology to those, who prefer utility to pleasure and sense to sound. And, as to readers of an opposite cast of mind, should any such choose to sit in judgment on him, he neither deprecates their censure nor courts their approbation.

A circumstantial analysis of the following memoirs would constitute a paper too extensive to be introduced here in the form of a preface, and a mere outline or general character of them would be altogether useless. The translation is now before the public, and every reader must judge of its merit for himself. On this point the translator will only observe, that the attention which he has been necessarily led to bestow on the work, has been to him the best school of surgery he ever attended, as far as relates to affections of the bones. Should other practitioners throughout the United States derive equal benefit from perusing his translation, he will rejoice in a consciousness of having, at least in one instance, been of service to his country.

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