ON FRACTURES. THE ARGUMENT. THE work commences with an announcement of the general principle upon which all cases of fracture and dislocation are to be rectified, which is this, that extension should be made as straight as possible, the term straight being immediately afterward explained to be meant as applying to that direction which is most natural to the limb affected, that is to say, the position which will afford the patient most ease and comfort after the limb has been properly arranged. This principle of treatment he illustrates at considerable length, and with great force of argument, in the case of the fore-arm, and reviews the different positions in which it had been recommended that it should be placed, namely, the state of pronation, of supination, the intermediate, and, lastly, that of the archer when he is in the attitude of drawing the string of his bow. The author shows, in a very striking manner, the evil effects resulting from the practice of not putting the limb, during the process of bandaging, into the attitude in which it is meant that it should be kept afterwards, as by the change of position the whole apparatus will be in so far deranged. §§ 1-3. Fractures of the fore-arm are next considered, and most minute directions are given regarding the whole process of managing it-the setting of the fractured bones-the application of the bandages, the compresses, and splints, and the arrangement of the limb after the process is completed. The general rules of practice laid down for the management of this case are meant to apply to all fractures, with a few exceptions. §8 4-7. Fracture of the arm, or humerus, is next considered, and here our author's mode of procedure is highly deserving of attention, as being considerably different from the method now in use: he attaches much importance to the mode in which extension is made, and pointedly directs that the limb be placed in its proper position before the application of the bandages and the rest of the apparatus. § 8. He then proceeds to the consideration of the foot and the injuries of the bones which compose it. § 9. The displacement of the tarsal bones from those of the leg are next considered, by which luxations of the astragalus and os calcis are probably meant. § 10, 11. After a brief description of the bones of the leg, he gives an account, in general terms, of luxations of the foot, and then describes very elaborately the process of reducing them, and of conducting the treatment afterward. §§ 13, 14. Fractures of the leg are then treated of at considerable length in §§ 15, 16, 17, 18. Fractures of the thigh-bone are next taken into consideration, and most minute directions are given for the management of them in §§ 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Our author gives some account of the canals, or gutters, then used for receiving the limb in cases of fractured leg or thigh; he does not much approve of them, but gives it as his opinion that the beneficial effects of them had been much exaggerated. Compound fractures are next considered, and all the different modes of treating them which were then in vogue are discussed, and freely criticised in §§ 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. The exfoliation of the bones and the separation of spiculæ are next brought under notice, and the treatment of such cases freely considered. § 30. Many minute directions are given relative to the reduction of broken bones by means of the lever, and the treatment afterward. §§ 31, 32. The treatment in those cases in which it has been found inpracticable to reduce the fractured bones is next delivered, including many important observations regarding the exfoliation of bones, and the resection of them. S$ 33, 34. The danger of compound fractures of the femur and humerus is pointedly declared, and the treatment of such cases when it is to be attempted is clearly indicated. §§ 35, 36. In § 37 is given a brief description of luxations of the knee, along with an elaborate, and, upon the whole, a very accurate statement of the points of analogy between the knee- and elbow-joints. In §§ 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, the luxations and sub-luxations at the elbow-joint are treated of very succinctly, but so as to display a very intimate acquaintance with this class of accidents. In § 45 there is given a curious, but rather obscure, description of fracture of the olecranon. In § 46 is given a brief account of fracture of the epiphysis, or trochlea of the humerus, a most interesting subject, on which we shall enter more fully by and by. In the last two paragraphs some general rules are given respecting accidents at the elbow, as regards bandages and position. From this enumeration of the contents of the present work, it will be readily seen that it is not a complete work on fractures; and, moreover, that it contains many things which are altogether foreign to that subject. In short, a considerable portion of it is evidently devoted to dislocations and other cognate subjects, as in like manner it will be presently seen that |