Observations on wounds, and their complications by erysipelas, gangrene and tetanus : and on the principal diseases and injuries of the head, ear and eye / by the Baron D.J. Larrey ; tr. from the French by E.F. Rivinus.

  • Larrey, D. J. (Dominique Jean), baron, 1766-1842.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on wounds, and their complications by erysipelas, gangrene and tetanus : and on the principal diseases and injuries of the head, ear and eye / by the Baron D.J. Larrey ; tr. from the French by E.F. Rivinus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    creased, moreover, by scarifications more or less deep, as ne- cessity seems to require, and with these, appropriate topical applications may be combined, such as compresses and dress^ ings, soaked in some sedative and discutient lotion. Lacerated Wounds. Lacerated wounds differ from other solutions of continuity in the shape, the phenomena which they present, and the symptoms by which they are followed. They are commonly very irregular, and present the fragments of the parts separated from one another and more or less retracted, according to the contractility of these parts; the lips of such wounds, formed by the integuments, are usually turgescent and inverted. There is seldom any hemorrhage, because the ruptured arte- ries curl upon themselves, and because their coats, which speedily become inflamed, form mutual adhesions, and thus prevent a sanguineous evacuation. The pain is sharp and ex- tends far beyond, more particularly along, the course of the nerves, and is frequently accompanied by a vibratory motion of the subjacent parts, and by a certain degree of numbness. Inflammation, erethismus, convulsive twitches, sometimes tetanus, subsequent accumulations of matter and purulent sinuses,—such are the consequences of these kinds of solutions of continuity, of which fortunately not often, but still too many instances occur. They may be the result of a limb, or some portion of it be-- ing torn off. I have seen many horsemen who have had one or more of their fingers torn off, when, while in the act of watering their horses, they imprudently held them by the very thin reins twisted around their fingers. The horses becoming frightened, and suddenly starting, make an effort upon the reins which hold them back, so rough and vio- lent, that its force overcomes the resistance of the hand of the rider, and that not only the finger is torn off at the stran- gulated articulation, but even the tendons which are attach- ed to the extremity of this appendix, are separated up to their insertion into the muscular parenchyma. The first indications to be fulfilled consist in making di-