Volume 1

Descriptive catalogue of the specimens illustrating surgical pathology in the museum of University College, London.

  • University College, London. Museum.
Date:
1899-1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Descriptive catalogue of the specimens illustrating surgical pathology in the museum of University College, London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    FRAOTUllES. intt:-fractures, especially of the long bones, arc divided Transverse, more commonly met with near the articular end of a bone than in the shaft (5). In chUdren such a fracture may occur through the epiphysial line. ° Oblique the commonest variety of fracture in the shafts of the long bones (b). An oblique fracture continued around the long axis of a long bone becomes spiral (7). Longitudinal, in which a split or fissure passes in the direction of the lone axis of the bone (8). ° Fractures are also classified, according to the nature of the iniury to the bone to:— ' rissured, in which a split o^ crack extends through the whole or a part of the thickness of the bono, as in the flat bones (9). In a stellate fracture several fissures radiate from the same point. Depressed, in which, most commonly in one of the flat bones of the skull, _ a portion of bone is driven below its proper level (10). Incised and punctured fractures, which are also most frequent in the bones pf the roof of the skull, are caused by cuts or punctures of the overlying soft parts extending into the bone, and involving a part or the whole of its thickness (128). The chief danger of such fractures is the contamination of the bone with septic matter. Incomplete or Grreenstick fractures, which are met with almost exclusively in young subjects, are characterized by a bending of the bone without its separation into two fragments. Fractures may be produced by :— Direct violence (184). Indirect violence (40). Muscular action (285). Spontaneous fractures and gunshot fractures are arranged in separate series. 1. A left tibia which has been fractured through the junction of its middle and lower thirds. Firm union has occurred after slight displacement of the lower fragment outwards ; the lower fragment has also been bent backwards by the muscles of the calf so as to give to the whole bone a long forward curvature. 215 2. A left tibia fractured in its upper and lower thirds. The upper fracture, which is comminuted, extends obliquely downwards and inwards from a point 12 mm. below the articular surface for the fibula, and union has occurred after slight displacement of the lower fragment upwards and outwards and angular deformity backwards. A large fragment separated from the posterior aspect of the bone is firmly united by its extremities to the main fragments. The lower fracture has an oblique direction downwards and forwards, and is firmly united after slight displacement of the lower fragment u])\\ards and back- wards. On the outer aspect of the lower fragment is a regularly oval cup-shaped depression which evidently articulated with a long projection from the fibula. 7067 Excavated from n supposed plague-pifc in Whitechapel. 3. The upper part of a right femur which has been sawn through longitudinally. The part of the bone which includes the trochanters is entirely separated from the shaft below and the neck above, and is itself broken up into several frag-