An address delivered at the annual meeting of the Bath and Bristol District Branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Bath, June 29th, 1854 / by John Smith Soden.

Soden, John Smith, 1780-1863.

Date:: 1854

Credit: An address delivered at the annual meeting of the Bath and Bristol District Branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Bath, June 29th, 1854 / by John Smith Soden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$as applied in my youtliM days. Notliing in surgery, indeed, is more perfect tlian tlie present mode of treating fractures of the lower extremities ; the broken ends of the bone being kept in complete apposition, and the whole limb effectually supported by apparatus reaching from the hip to the toes. Mr. Pott's remarks on fractures are valuable, and will ever be held in high estimation ; his principle of the relaxation of the muscles is important, and should be kept in view, though it was not found so efficacious in practice, when carried to the fidl extent of his recommenda- tion, as it was plausible in theory. To the French surgeons, and particularly to Desault, we are chiefly indebted for practical improvement in this depart- ment of surgery. ' ' ' Numerous cases of compound fracture were ad- mitted into the Birmingham Hospital during the five years that I was a pupil at that institution, and a majority of them terminated fatally, whether the limbs were amputated, or attempts made to save them. Mr. Pott's directions were again our guide in the treatment of these injuries. The hmb was placed in the same position as in simple fracture ; if a por- tion of bone protruded through the skin, and could not be returned, the wound was enlarged, and if the broken ends could not then be brought into apposi- tion, they were sawn off, all detached fragments were picked away, a hght dressing was applied to the wound, and supported by the eighteen-tailed bandage, the leg deposited between two splints, and carefully placed on its oiitside. In those cases m which the fracture extended into a joint, and in which all the$