Ml" Thomas Oxley on Gutki Fcrcha. 293 



he can use the leg, or he deems the bone sufficiently united 

 to bear the weight of his patient. If it be a compound frac- 

 ture, it will be only necessary to untie the loop bandages, 

 separate the edges of the gutta splint to the required dis- 

 tance, wash and cleanse the limb without shifting any thing 

 except the dressings, and having done so, shut it up again. 

 The most perfect cleanliness can be maintained, as the gutta 

 is not affected by any amount of ablution ; neither is it soiled 

 or rendered offensive by any discharge, all Avhich washes off 

 as easily from the gutta case as from oil-cloth. I have had 

 a patient where the tibia protruded through the integu- 

 ments fully two inches, walking about in six weeks from the 

 injury, with a leg as straight and well formed as ever it had 

 been. It is quite obvious, therefore, that if it answers so 

 well to compound, it will answer equally, if not better, for 

 simple fractures; and that any broken bone capable of re- 

 ceiving mechanical support can be supported by the gutta 

 better than by any other contrivance. For it combines light- 

 ness and smoothness, durability, and a capability of adjust- 

 ment, not possessed by any other known substance. All 

 new experiments have to run the gauntlet of opposition, and 

 I do not suppose that these recommendations will prove an 

 exception to the rule. But all I ask of any surgeon is to try 

 the experiment ere he argues on its propriety, and I feel fully 

 convinced that all other splints and bandages Avill be con- 

 signed to the tomb of the Capulets. There are some other 

 uses for which I have tried this substance, viz., as capsules for 

 transmission of the vaccine virus, which ought to keep well 

 when thus protected, for it is most perfectly and hermetically 

 sealed ; but I have not had sufficient experience in this mode 

 of using it to pronounce decidedly on its merits. I am at 

 present trying the effects of it on ulcers, by inclosing the ul- 

 cerated limb in a case of gutta so as to exclude all atmos- 

 pheric air, and, so far, the experiment promises success. 



Since writing the foregoing observations, I have had an 

 official intimation from Penang of the vaccine virus trans- 

 mitted in the gutta capsules having been received in good 

 order, and of its Iiaving succeeded most satisfactorily. I have 

 also opened a capsule containing a vaccine crust tliat had 

 been kept here for one month, and it also seems to have lost 



