78 Injuries of Bone. 



full motion of the limbs, yet the spine is undoubtedly broken or crushed, 

 and he will, I fear, die with the symptoms of the last case, and from the 

 same cause — -suppuration within the tube of the spine. 



"Evening. — He is delirious, and like a man who is good-tempered in 

 his cups. His stools and urine still pass involuntarily. Pulse 130, weak. 



"I7th, — It has been necessary to tie him down in bed. He now 

 appears dying. His breathing is very quick and laboured ; his pulse 

 hurried ; his countenance is sunk, and his tongue is covered with a brown 

 fur. About an hour before death a change took place from that happy 

 delirium, and groaning as in much pain, he fell insensible and died. The 

 eleventh dorsal vertebra (sic) was fractured in its body. The spinous 

 process of the same vertebra was crushed. The spinal marrow did not 

 appear to liave suffered mechanically, or to have been crushed. Pus, thick 

 in consistence and of a greenish colour, lay betwixt the sheath and the 

 spinal marrow. There was an effusion of serum betwixt the membranes 

 of the brain." 



It is evident, on carefully examining the specimen, that 

 the injury has been to the second lumbar, and not to the 

 eleventh dorsal vertebra. The description of the injury, more- 

 over, quite tallies Avith the condition of the specimen, so that 

 this discrepancy cannot be accounted for by any mistake in its 

 identity. It is important to note that this injury has been pro- 

 duced in a different way to that of the previous specimens. 

 From the nature of the accident, the spinal column has pro- 

 bably been injured directly where the man struck his back, also 

 indirectly by its having been bent backwards (not forwards, as 

 in the previous cases). B. C. 1. 4. M. 12. 



3. 89. Old-standing" Crushing" Fracture of the first Lumbar 

 Vertebra. — Sections of the last dorsal, first, and part of 

 second lumbar vertebrae — macerated and dried, to show the 

 above injury. 



The accident happened by a weight of earth falling upon the man's 

 shoulders, and although the spinal cord must have been compressed the 

 patient survived the injury for "a considerable time." 



The substance of the injured vertebrae seems to have been 

 crushed backwards upon the spinal canal, but the parts have 

 apparently been consolidated. 



Figured in Bell's ' ' Observ. on Injuries of the Spine and Thigh 

 Bone," plate i. fig. 2. 



B. C. 1. 4. M. 10. 



