A letter to the Hon. Isaac Parker, chief justice of the Supreme court of the state of Massachusetts : containing remarks on the dislocation of the hip joint, occasioned by the publication of a trial which took place at Machias, in the state of Maine, June, 1824 / by John C. Warren ; with an appendix of documents from the trial necessary to illustrate the history of the case.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856.
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Hon. Isaac Parker, chief justice of the Supreme court of the state of Massachusetts : containing remarks on the dislocation of the hip joint, occasioned by the publication of a trial which took place at Machias, in the state of Maine, June, 1824 / by John C. Warren ; with an appendix of documents from the trial necessary to illustrate the history of the case. 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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    0 words he had before used to me. Such being the re- sult of this conversation, and such the resolution of the patient, I felt encouraged to employ my best exertions for his relief, from his present unfortunate condition. Arrangements were therefore made, to prepare him for the operation, according to the practice founded on the doctrines of the great master of his art, the sagacious John Hunter ; which have been so ably displayed by his pupils, especially the distinguished Sir Astley •Cooper. In attempting, says Mr. Hunter, ''the reduction of a dislocated bone, the indications are, ''1. To make the naturally most immoveable part a fixed point. 2. To overcome the action of the muscles, which draw up the dislocated bone, and resist its recovering its natural situation. 3. Then by making lateral pressure, to force the head of the dislocated bone into its place. '' Here then a retrograde motion is to be observed, and the last action in the dislocation is the first to be overcome ; the last action is that of the muscles draw- ing up the dislocated bone, and their force being over- come by distension in a proper direction, and by it, the head of the bone being brought to the edge of its re- ceiving articular surface, is then by lateral pressure to be forced into its place. If a dislocated bone remain in its unnatural state a considerable time, and in contact with a bony surface, by degrees it forms a new socket for itself; the bone against which it presses undergoes absorption, and the adhesive inflammation arising in the parts around, a new joint is formed. These may be called necessitous joints. This happens commonly in irreducible dislocations of the thigh bone. The principles roughly sketched by John Hunter, have been more distinctly displayed by Sir Astley Cooper. While Mr. Hunter taught that the principal