History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

174 History of Medical Practice in Illinoisbed, but that he could not find any better results than those of Sands of NewYork using simple plaster of paris bandage. He told of his use of theHodgen splint and the results of treatment of fractures of the tibia,humerus, forearms and clavicle, citing one case of Barton's fracture treatedby a straight dorsal and palmar splint according to Collins of Dublin.Colles' fracture "about which volumes have been written, scores of splintsand manifold dressings invented" demonstrated plainly that a satisfactorymode of treatment had not yet been found. He described the method ofreduction used by Morris of Rochester, New York, based on the suppositionthat the fracture was complicated by dislocation of the ulna.In the discussion, Dr. Prince belittled the good results reported in fracturesof the femur and tibia with healing and no shortening, saying that hedid not get such results and that this kind of a report was dangerous to putout in the Transactions as the courts would rule that it was the dictum ofthe medical fraternity for all time and it would cause trouble in law suits.This was a serious and wise objection, displaying factual observation. Toshow his thoroughness, he cited the case of a 15-year-old boy who fellinto a well and sustained an oblique fracture of one femur. The limb wasput into a long side splint and traction applied. Healing resulted in sevenweeks and the broken limb was then found to be one-half inch longer thanthe unfractured leg. Two years later, however, it was again measured andfound to be shorter, and in that year the boy was accidentally killed. Dr.Prince made a postmortem examination, took out the whole femur, andfound that it overlapped 1 inch at the healed fracture site. He warned hiscolleagues that it takes a long time for bones to heal so firmly that they willnot move when the splints are taken off, and that a doctor might be citedbefore a jury a year or so after treating a fracture to show why it was set 1 or1I/2 inches shorter than the mate. He thought the Society should say a curewithout shortening is the exception rather than the rule, although he mightexcept transverse fractures placed end-to-end and completely adjusted. Headvised also that if 100 fractures of the femur were examined, there wouldbe found but few transverse fractures;almost uniformly they would beoblique. He was wise before his time; with no x-rays, he was truly a greatobserver. Dr. Hamilton seconded Dr. Prince's proposal, and Dr. Prince saidthat he had never seen, in 20 years, a case without shortening, and that hewould be ready to testify before any court that a shortening of i/£ to 1 inchis a good result. Thus they agreed.1874Dr. W. P. Peirce of Lemont read his Report on Surgery, in which he saidthat that was an era of brilliant progress and that he wished to select fourtopics to illustrate it: (1) bloodless amputation; (2) aspiration; (3) the