Cases of shortening of the neck of the thigh-bone : with remarks / [George Gulliver].

  • Gulliver, George, 1804-1882
Date:
[1836]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of shortening of the neck of the thigh-bone : with remarks / [George Gulliver]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/8
    \ \ \ \ /CAry'. Cjljfcr ■5 CASES OF SHORTENING OF THE NECK OF THE THIGH-BONE, WITH REMARKS. By GEORGE GULLIVER, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces. Communicated by Sir James M‘Grigor, Bart. Director-General of the Army Medical Department. (From the Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, No. 128.J Since the publication of Sir Astley Cooper’s work on frac¬ tures, the profession have become familiar with the changes in¬ cident to the neck of the thigh-bone in old subjects. But, not¬ withstanding the memoir of Mr Benjamin Bell, and the more re¬ cent observations of Mr Liston and others, there is yet some un¬ certainty how far insterstitial absorption and shortening of this part may be the effect of disease at an earlier period of life. The examples of shortening of the neck of the thigh bone pre¬ served in our collections, have been generally found in the dis¬ secting-room, from which they have sometimes been produced as instances of reunion of fractures within the joint, and still more frequently attributed to the natural effect of old age. Mor¬ gagni expresses a doubt whether he was not deceived in the two cases described by him. Those of Sandifort and Dr Knox were probably- original malformations ; and of the few examples sup¬ posed to have occurred in middle-aged subjects, we have either an inconclusive history, or the case, as described in the living body, has not been completed by an account of the appearances disclosed by dissection after death. Hence the disease has hardly found a place in the systematic works of pathology, and we require instances of which the his¬ tory is unequivocal. Of those which I present, one appears to be of this nature, and in connection with this, the others may perhaps not be considered as entirely devoid of interest. Case. I. A country boy, aged 15, of healthy appearance, but weak intellect, was brought to me for advice under the following circumstances. About nine weeks before, he had received an in¬ jury to the right hip by a fall into a gravel pit, in consequence of which he complained of much pain about the joint, but con¬ tinued his work without intermission for a month after the acci¬ dent, when he became so lame that he was obliged to desist. The