[The first lines of the] practice of surgery : being an elementary work for students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners ; part I. general surgical subjects ; part II. particular surgical subjects : with nine plates / by Samuel Cooper, member of the Royal College of Surgeons ; fellow of the Medical Society of London ; and author of Critical reflections on the cataract.

  • Samuel Cooper
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [The first lines of the] practice of surgery : being an elementary work for students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners ; part I. general surgical subjects ; part II. particular surgical subjects : with nine plates / by Samuel Cooper, member of the Royal College of Surgeons ; fellow of the Medical Society of London ; and author of Critical reflections on the cataract. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    CHAP. XII. WOUNDS. BY a wound surgeons imply a recent sudden breach in the continuity of the soft parts Wounds are divided into the incised, punctured, lacerattd, contused, and poisoned kinds. Ail bites and gunshot injuries are complicated with contu- sion and laceration. The former are frequently rendered more serious by being at the same time poisoned. The danger of wounds is proportioned to several circum- stances highly deserving attention. 1, Their size ; 2, the degree of violence done to the fibres in addition to their mere division ; 3, the little power which the part has of repairing its injuries ; 4, its great importance to the constitution. I shall not mention i.ge and kind of consti- tution, as these have influence in all disorders. 1. The removal of a large adipose tumour is often accom- plished without injuring any one part of importance, and yet the magnitude of the wound may occasion death. 2. A man cannot bear a large incised and lacerated wound equally well; because in the latter case the fibres are not only divided, but stretched and otherwise injured. I have seen the integuments covering the anterior surface of the tibia torn in a Straight direction, fiom the upper head oi that bone nearly to the foot: mortification of tht limb took place rapidly, and the man died. H.ui vbis been a simple incision, such fatal conse- quences wouid, probably, not have happened, since the wound of amputation, even when a bulky thigh is removed, is not fre- quently the cause or death. All contused and gunshot wounds are, for this reason, more perilous than if they were simple breaches cf continuity. 3. Joints seem to possess but feeble power of repairing their injuries, and the whole constitution becomes very often dan- gerously disturbed in such cases. The system seems to sym- pathize with the local imperfection. •1. [he slightest wound of a part, the functions of which are intimately connected with life, is often fatal : the brain, stom- ach, &c Wounds may be complicated with injury of considerable blood-vessels and nerves •, lodgment of extraneous substances, an<] poisonous matrer in them ; fractured bones ; and a train of other circumstances, which will be hereafter explained.