[ 42 ] 
been fo well effeded any other way j but the joint, 
in all probability, would have remained ftifF, and 
formed an anchylojis, if it had not been allowed to play 
about. 
REMARKS. 
Though from this operation I hoped for many 
advantages preferable to the amputation of the limb 
at the fcapula^ yet my moft fanguine expectations 
fell greatly fhort of the fuccefs attending it. I did 
not flatter myfelf with the hopes of a moveable joint, 
or that the length of the limb would be fo nearly 
preferved, when there was a lofs of above four inches 
of the whole fubftance of the bone without any 
other bone to fupport it as in the leg and fore-arm ; 
and where the dreadful condition of the arm at the 
time of the operation prevented me from making ufe 
of any machine to keep it extended But I fup- 
pofe the weight of the arm was in this cafe in fome 
meafure fufiicient to counterbalance the contraCtile 
power of the mufcles, for his arm was only fufpended 
by a common fling, and the patient not at all con- 
fined to his bed, 
I could not help being furprized to find fo much 
firength and firmnefs in the parts as evidently ihewed 
a regeneration of the bone before the lower part had 
■* After the extraction of three inches and ten lines of the os 
humeri^ M. Le Cat made ufe of a machine to keep the upper 
and lower pieces of the bone at their proper diftances. He has 
given a defcription of the cafe, and a figure of the machine, in 
vol, LVI. of the Philof. Tranfadh p. 270. 
exfoliated, 
