WOUNDS. 195 



whole. Great care should be taken, however, to remove 

 all extraneous substances previously to the insertion 

 of sutures. Great care should be taken that the sutures 

 be not drawn too tight — because the tighter they are 

 drawn the sooner will they slough away ; indeed, sutures 

 rarely remain more than five or six days however artis- 

 tically applied. Wounds of any extent are usually 

 attended by constitutional disturbance — most fre- 

 quently by symptomatic fever, but sometimes by 

 lockjaw or tetanus. Wounds occurring in debilitated 

 constitutions assume a species of mortification usually 

 known by the name of gangrene. In all wounds by a 

 sharp cutting instrument, such as a scythe, knife, &c, 

 the bleeding must be first checked, and a reunion of 

 the lips of the wound affected by sutures or compres- 

 sion. There is no application so good as lint soaked in 

 tepid water, but all healing ointments and suchlike filth 

 should be carefully avoided. The tendency of parts of 

 the body to effect reunion are very remarkable. Indeed, 

 parts which have been completely severed have been 

 successfully united. I recollect a remarkable instance of 

 this in a prize fight, where the lower half of the ear of 

 one of the combatants was cut so severely as to retain 

 connection with the upper portion of the ear only by a 

 small piece of skin, which one of the seconds severed 

 entirely, and putting the excised portion of the ear in 

 his pocket, thought nothing of it until after the termi- 

 nation of the fight, when, as a joke, he attempted to 

 reunite the severed portion of the ear merely by the 

 aid of a little common sticking-plaster. The ear 



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