A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty.

  • Doty, Alvah H. (Alvah Hunt), 1854-1934.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

    111/256 (page 91)
    CHAPTER IX. CONTUSIONS AND WOUNDS, CONTUSIONS—BRUISES. A CONTUSION is an injury inflicted upon a portion of the body by a blow from a blunt instrument, also from a fall, or severe pressure, and resulting in the laceration of blood-vessels (usually small) and other structures beneath the skin, the latter remaining unbroken. The subcutaneous escape of blood is immediately fol- lowed by swelling and discoloration of the skin ; the color being at first black and blue or purplish, then green, yellow, and so on until the extravasated blood is removed by ab- sorption, and the affected part regains its normal color and appearance—usually within two weeks. A .black eye is a familiar examj)le of a simple contusion. In severe contusions, although the skin may be at first unbroken, the soft tissues are often so badly injured that death (gangrene) of the affected structures follows. In contusions which extend deeply into the tissues, the discoloration may not appear for a number of days. When a contusion is followed by very rapid and ex- tensive swelling, in which pulsation can be detected, it indicates that a large artery has been divided. Treatment.—Slight contusions need no special consid- eration. In those of a severer nature the treatment depends upon the time that has elapsed since the injury, and its gravity. If seen early, the indications for treatment are— (1) to prevent the further escape of blood in the tissues ;