the knee-pan is attached. It is not necessary, if we cannot do it 
+ ie 
easily, to bring the bones in close eontact ; for a cure may be ob- 
tained even if they are a quarter of an inch distant. = = 
it will be obvious to the practitione that the bandages required = 
in this case, must be of a peculiar construction, in order not tobend => 
down the sides of the bone out of its proper level. The limb being 
secured in this manner, the bandages should not be removed till the 
twelfth or fourteenth day, ifno inflammation intervenes ; but about 
this time the bandage should be removed, and the limb may be mo-~ 
derately bent, and this may be cautiously repeated every third or 
fourth day, in order to preserve the motion of the joint. é. 
‘The joint of the knee is liable to another injury somethin 
lar in its effects to the fracture of the pan; namely, a sepai : 
violence of the ligaments of the knee-pan. The usual effect of a_ 
smart stroke or a severe fall upon the forepart of the knee, is a 
a fracture of this bone; but where a person carrying a-heavy bur- _ 
den upon his back falls with his knee much bent, a rupture of the 
tendon more frequently happens, which sometimes retracts 1 
three inches. ' ’ 
The treatment advised for a fracture, proves equally successful 
here ; ouly in this case we have to trust entirely to the extended — 
posture of the limb; and although the tendon and bone cannot be 
brought close together, the cure may always be accomplished.» ees 
FRACTURES OF THE SHIN BONES, 
In fractures of the leg, one or both bones may be broken; the lat- 
ter is more frequently the case, and then the direction of the frac- 
ture is more easily perceived. “When one bone only is broken, the 
nature of the injury is discovered with more difficulty ; but this is of 
little consequence, as the sound bone so effectually supports the 
other, that little more is necessary than confinement till the bone is 
united. ccs é 
Fractures are more frequent near the joint of the ancle than in 
other parts. The outer shin bone is generally broken an inch or 
two above the lower end, as that is the ‘weakest part. Bee 
_ The same management proposed in fractures of the thigh bone, 
4s applicable in fractures of the Jeg: in replacing the bones, the mus-— 
cles should be relaxed, and this is done by bending the knee and 
slightly extending the foot. The bones being reduced to the 
Place and the patient placed in such a manner that the inj 
‘be laid upon its out side, with the knee bent, splin 
"applied : the splint on the outside, 
