Complicated Fracture of the Trochanters. 241 



can invent an apparatus, or machinery, which will so 

 completely and permanently counteract the contracting 

 action of the muscles in these oblique fractures, as 

 effectually to restore the limb to its perfectly natural 

 length and appearance. He considers all inventions 

 and contrivances, with a view to this effect, as absurd 

 and inefficacious ; and unhesitatingly avers, that they 

 are nothing but instruments of cruelty and torture. 

 Whatever may be the correctness of Mr. Bell's opinion 

 on this subject, and however good < his reasons for it, 

 other eminent surgeons differ widely from him on 

 this point. In the case which I have just detailed, the 

 efficacy of Dr. Hartshorae's apparatus was manifested, 

 by the natural situation of the bone and fractured parts, 

 when first brought into view. 



What was the probable cause of the unfavourable 

 termination of this complicated fracture? From the 

 partial examination of the arterial system that was 

 made, we may naturally conclude, that a more univer- 

 sal ossification of the arteries existed, probably of those 

 in the vicinity of the heart. The languid circulation 

 that must necessarily have been the consequence even of 

 the partial ossification of the arteries, that dissection dis- 

 covered to have existed, will readily account for the ina- 

 bility of the system to produce the re-union of the fractured 

 bone. Perhaps, too, the continued motion of the limb, 

 and, of consequence, of the fractured parts, tended to re- 

 tard or completely suppress any efforts of nature to re- 

 produce the bony matter. It seems probable, however, 

 that the constitutional degeneracy in this man's system 

 was so great, that the exertions of nature to repair the 



