FRACTURE. 
vol generally fee'that a part of the limb bends, which na- 
ae is ses ai firm and inflexible. 
, the principal changes, refulting from the folu- 
tion of continuity of the, bone, are four fpecies of deformity 
affeting the 
The firft ikind 3 is that which fhortens. the member, and is 
mech, aa ok moit o 
to move the thigh bone, being stead to it much above the 
place where moft fractures are fituated. 
However, when the ure happens pes up than the 
common fituation, an additional number of mufcles, and a 
o emoris below the fracture, fo 
leg, knee, and lower part of the thigh with a ess eae 
increafe of force. Hence it happens, when fractures of 
the thigh are high up the bone, there is always more fone 
ing of the limb, and the furgeon experiences more difficulty 
in ‘preventing this effe&t than in other inftances. 
t be obvious, alfo, toevery one endued with com- 
e and an ordinary degree of 
furfaces of oblique fractures do not, like thofe 
- refift paffage of one beyond the other, 
gli as foon as the mufcles having the 
above-defcribed power begin to at, Loar pata fractures mutt 
ing of the limb. 
‘That the riufelés do occafion the afcent of the lower por- 
manifeit to every bod 
e Were it neceflary to adduce an 
other fet ia to convince the undifcerning and {ceptical, 
we might advert to the cafe related in « Les CEuvres Chirur- 
gicales de Default,”’? where the os femoris was fra€tured ina 
man, whofe lower extremities were paralytic, and confe- 
quently, whofe sale were inc a € 0 
as this ftate b was 
valfy removed ie the 
a, than the ae Pau their pov ers and 
er of the thigh, together with th e, leg, and foot, 
ecaine drawn up as the pelvi . 28 in ordinary 
continue 
28. 
o When the limb is placed in the soe pofition, the weight 
e buttoc 
8, foon 
manner that the patient’s body flips from above ili 
and pufhes before it the vine - - the fra 
kind - defo 
er. 
econd {pecies of deformity, frequently feen | in cafes 
of feaétured thighs,is what is termed tranfverfe. It always ac- 
companies the longitudinal deformity ; butin certain inftances 
may be prefen:. ‘alone. We need hardly obferve that the 
word tranfverfe here means in the direction of the diameter 
Vou. XV. 
nues unmoved while the other feparates fro n 
cumftance, the upper end of the fra Ave i is Gee asin the 
firft kind of deformity, unaffected by the contraction of tle 
muf{cles ; but, by being drawn out of corntack with the 
lower portion of the bone, in confequenes o has action of 
neus, pfoas, iliacus intern er part af 
8, it contributes to the ee end of de- 
formity. 
The third {pecies of deformity , fometimes accompanying a 
fracture of the thigh, is what has been named angular, be- 
caufe the two portions of oken bone are made to form 
an angle with each other. be produced by the vio- 
ence which caufed the fr ‘ature, Ve awkwardnefs of the af- 
— in eel the limb, or ne the member in an 
ye 
ing of the infide of the 
per ufe of the kind of tripod which is naturally conftru 
in our feet, by the os calcis and balls of the ae and Heth 
er 
e fhall now confider the treatnient of fragtured thighs, 
a fabjed highly ade and even at this day involved in 
on we ee our readers that Pott is an 
J 
influence see fet of partifans or thé other, as it is impofitbl 
that one mode of treatment fhould be = as eligtble as 
a other. 
out 
pofe of eens ‘the 
mufcles from difplacing the fratture, he obferves: is it 
not obvious that putting the limb into fuch pofition as fhall 
relax the whole fet of mufcles belonging to or in conneétion 
with the broken bone, muft beft anfwer fuch purpofe 2” 
Pott’s works, vol. i. p 0, In the next 
» it is enquired, 
all the mufcles’ furrounding the broken bone ?”’ 
page 393, Mr. Pott continues; “ change of 
be She aH el or Alpe the placing the limb in fuch man- 
ner as to relax mul{cles.’ 
That to have all fie ee relaxed in cafes of fraGtures, 
a a 
