Fractures of the Spine. 75 



3. 84. Forward Dislocation and Fracture of the Body of 

 the eleventh, and Fracture of that of the twelfth 



Dorsal Vertebrae. — Eleventh and twelfth dorsal and first 

 lumbar vertebrae — cleaned, dried, and varnished, to show the 

 above condition. 



The patient, John Cameron, was admitted to the Royal Infirmary, 

 Edinburgh, on 12th October 1807, with loss of motion and sensation 

 below the thorax, as the result of an injury. About a week before death 

 it was noted that his water continued to be mixed with purulent matter, 

 and also that the catheter was introduced with diflBculty, apparently 

 from its point getting into a false passage. There was a very extensive 

 slough over the os sacrum, as well as over the injured part of the spine, 

 the latter being on the increase. At this time the patient was incoherent, 

 and took little food. On the morning of 2nd November he was attacked 

 with spontaneous vomiting of a greenish-coloured matter, and on the 

 following day his pulse could hardly be felt at the wrist, while the 

 vomiting had been continuous. On 4th November — i.e., twenty-three 

 days after the accident — he died. 



The spinal canal must have been completely obliterated 

 and the lower end of the cord crushed. G. C. 173 B. 



Presented hi]\N-su Bkowx, F.R.C.S.E., 1807. 



3. 85. Dislocation forwards of the eleventh, with 

 Fracture of the Body of the twelfth Vertebra.— 



Sections of the last three dorsal and first lumbar vertebrae, 

 with the muscles cleaned off, showing compression of the 

 cord by displacement of the vertebrae — in spirit. 



A. M., set. 31, a fireman, on 26th February 1891 fell through a 

 hatchway into the forepeak, a distance of ten feet, and must have landed 

 across an iron M'heel, but cannot say how he struck it, as he was rendered 

 unconscious. He was pulled up by the sailors, by means of a rope under 

 his arm-pits, carried to his berth, and next day taken to Hamburg 

 Hospital. There he lay for two months till he was brought to Leith, and 

 admitted to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, on 29th April 1891. On 

 admission he was very white, weak, and prostrate. He had no feeling 

 below the iliac crests, and neither movement nor sensation in the lower 

 limbs. There was tactile sensation in the lumbar region, but it was 

 delayed. Some hypersesthesia existed above the twelfth rib. There was 

 a depression below the twelfth dorsal spine. There were bedsores on the 

 sacrum, the calves, and at the malleoli of both legs. Sphincters were 

 relaxed, and fteces and the urine came away involuntarily. The urine 



