CHAPTER XXIV. 



WOUNDS. 



DEFIN [TION — CLASSIFICATION — INCISED — PUNCTURED L ACER ATED 



CONTUSED GUNSHOT POISONED TREATMENT OF WOUNDS — 



SUTURES COLLODION STYPTIC-COLLOID — SHELLAC PASTE — 



NON-INTERFERENCE. 



The term wound signifies a recent solution of continuity of the 

 living tissues induced by some mechanical cause. 



Wounds are classified under the following heads: — Incised, 

 punctured, lacerated, contused, r/unsJwt, and poisoned. 



The various modes of healing are considered in the following 

 order, namely: — 1. By immediate union; 2. By primary ad- 

 hesion ; 3. By granulation ; 4. By secondary adhesion, or the 

 union of granulations ; 5. By healing under a scab. These five 

 modes are sometimes called : — 1. By the first intention ; 2. By 

 the adhesive inflammation ; 3. By the second intention ; 4. By 

 the third intention ; 5. Subcriistaceous cicatrisation. 



1. Incised wounds. — An incised wound is that made with a 

 clean-cutting instrument. The textures are divided evenly and 

 smoothly; there is no tearing or bruising of parts, hence the 

 haemorrhage is at first much greater than in most other wounds. 

 If the wound has been parallel to the course of the muscular 

 fibres of the part, there is no gaping of the edges so long as 

 the part is kept in position ; but if the cut be across the direc- 

 tion of the muscular fibres, or transverse to the axis of a limb, 

 the wound will be drawn apart, the deep parts more so than 

 the superficial, owing to the retraction of the divided muscular 

 fibres, and a cavity formed in wdiich blood and pus are apt to 

 collect and retard the progress of repair. 



The treatment of this sort of wound is very simple, but it 

 comprehends four important indications, namely — 1. To arrest 



