90 



CICATRIZATION OF WOUNDS 



continues to increase, and reaches a maximum value when the 



ratio approaches 20. At that moment, cicatrization is almost 



complete and the absolute value of the correction is very close 



to I cm. 2, this being a maximum. 



Therefore the maximum correction could be expressed by 



I L . , . L (length) v t., . . . , 



7 = 1 (as the ratio , . . , , . =20). This empirical correc- 



20 / ^ / (width) ^ ^ 



tion had to be subtracted from the figure normally calculated 



Patiervt N°4o3 



J^drch 7 th .1916 .5=14.65 sqcm 



5 =8.20 sqcm 



March 15 - S= 4.20 sq cm 



;~"Mdfc«i 19 .5=2 SqCffT 



Harch 21 : healed 

 FIG. 22. LONG AND NARROW WOUND. RAPID CICATRIZATION 



by means of formula (4). But I could introduce neither L 

 nor / in the formula, as it was impossible to know at the start 

 what would be the length and the width of the wound at the 

 end of a time x. Therefore another way of expressing the 

 same thing had to be found. 



Now, in such wounds the perimeter — let us call it P — ^is 

 practically equal to twice the length, or P=2L, and P being a 

 function of the square root of the area and of a certain co- 

 efficient which depends on the shape of the wound, one could 

 write: 



L=kVS 

 where ^ is a coefficient to be determined experimentally. It is 



