Observations on the incurvations of the spine arising from softness of the bones, and on their treatment, particularly in regard to the female sex : also some remarks on abscesses of the hip-joint, and on incurvations of the spine from carious vertebrae : extracted from the lectures delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London in the summer of the year 1820 / by James Wilson.

  • Wilson, James, 1765-1821.
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the incurvations of the spine arising from softness of the bones, and on their treatment, particularly in regard to the female sex : also some remarks on abscesses of the hip-joint, and on incurvations of the spine from carious vertebrae : extracted from the lectures delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London in the summer of the year 1820 / by James Wilson. 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.

    20/92 (page 20)
    arising from this impression, so as sometimes, in the necessary examinations of the natural and dis- eased parts by the introduction of the finger into the excretory passages, and in the use of instru- ments in operations, to have produced very serious mistakes. We should therefore recollect that the position of parts usually called anterior, is also inferior, and that called posterior is also usually superior. From the recollection that a line drawn through the axis of the pelvis in the erect position of the body approaches nearer to a horizontal than a perpendicular direction, the true situation of the pelvis, in regard to the rest of the skeleton, in any position of the body, need never be mistaken. The pelvis rises high at the sides: these lateral projecting parts give support to the abdominal vis- cera, and allow of attachment to the strong muscles which move the thighs and trunk. Had the edge of the pelvis projected equally on the fore part, the cavity of the abdomen could not have so readily accommodated itself to the alteration in size which its viscera must occasionally undergo; as the blad- der when full or empty, the uterus whether gravid or not, or the intestines when distended or con- tracted. The ossa innominata are very wide in the human skeleton, and give origin to the strong and thick glutei muscles, which, covered by fat, form the hips, and constitute a marked difference between 3