I have had under my care, during the course of this late bloody war, a
great number of wounded limbs, torn and shattered by cannon and musket
balls, by the bursting of bomb-shells and grenades, by grape-shot,
&c. I cured them without ever performing amputation, by the method
described in the two preceding sections, although there were bones
broken and shattered, large blood vessels divided, the flesh miserably
lacerated, and limbs carried off in the manner I have described § XXI.
Others, such as I have described § XXIV. in which the bones were split
up as high as the articulation; all which circumstances might make us
reasonably apprehend a tedious and difficult cure, too plentiful a
suppuration, hemorrhages, violent inflammation, excessive corruption,
mortification and death.
It will perhaps be asked me, Of those men so terribly wounded, whom
you attempted to cure without the means of amputation, did none die? I
shall return an answer by and bye. It will be further objected to me,
that I have not taken notice of the os humeri, or the thigh bone being
shattered; and it will be asked me, What must be done in cases where
either of these bones are fissured as far as their upper extremities,
in such a manner that we cannot hope to procure their coalition by
means of any bandage? And finally, it will be remarked, I have not
mentioned the wounding the brachial or crural arteries, or the large
branches of these which pass between the radius and ulna, or tibia and
fibula, called in both parts the inter-osseous arteries, whether these
wounds be accompanied with a fracture of the bones, or otherwise. I
shall reply to these two last objections, after having answered the
first question in the following section.