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OF BROKEN HONES, arc.

37 Jthe following

liiey must be emphtycd: we shall therefore recommendhints to their consideration.

When a large bone is broken, the patient's diet ought in all respectsio be the same as in an inflammatory fever. He should likewise be keptquiet and cool, and his body open by emollient clysters ; or, if thesecannot be conveniently' -tdministered, by food that is of an openingquality; as stewed prunes, apples boiled in milk, boiled spinage, aird thelike. It ought however to be here remarked, that persons who havebeen accustomed to live high, are not all of a sudden to be reduced to avery low diet. This might have fatal effects. There is often a necessityfor indulging even bad habits, in some measure, where the nature of thedisease might require a different treatment.

It will generally be necessary to bleed the patient immediately after afracture, especially if he be young, of a full habit, or has at the sametime received any bruise or contusion. This operation should not onlybe performed soon after the accident happens, but, if the patient be veryfeverish, it may be repeated next day. When several of the ribs arebroken, Weeding is peculiarly necessary.

If any of the large bones which support the body are broken, the patient must keep his bed for several weeks. It is by no means necessary,however, that he should lie all that time, as is customary, upon his back.This situation sinks the spirits, galls and frets the patient's skin, andrenders him very uneasy. After the second week he may be gentlyraised up, aud may sit several hours, supported by a bedchair, or thelike, which will greatly relieve him. Great care, however, must betaken in raising him up and laying him down, that he make no exertionsnimself, otherwise the action of the muscles may pull the bone out of it»place.

It is of great importance to keep the patient dry and clean while inthis situation. By neglecting this, he is often so galled and excoriated,that he is forced to keep shifting places for ease. I have known a frac-tured thigh-bone, after it had been kept straight for above a fortnight,displaced by this means, and continue bent for life, in spite of all thatcould be done.

It has been customary, when a bone was broken, to keep the limb forlive or six weeks continually upon 'the stretch. But this is a bad pos-ture. It is both uneasy to the patient, and unfavourable to the cure.The best situation is to keep the limb a little bent. This is the postureinto which every animal puts its limbs when it goes to rest, and in whichfewest muscles are upon the stretch. It is easily effected, by either lay-ing the patient upon his side, or making the bed so as to favour this posi-tion of the limb.

Bone-setters ought carefully to examine whether the bone be not shalered or broken into several pieces. In this case it will sometimes benecessary to have the lknb immediately taken off, otherwise a gangreneor mortification may ensue. The horror which attends the very idea ofan amputation often occasions its being delayed in such cases till toolate. I have known this principle operate so strongly, that a limb, wherethe bones were shattered into more than twenty pieces, was not ampu-tated before the third day after the accident, when the gangrene hadproceeded so far as to render the operation useless