Ambulance Lectures; First Aid to the Injured (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885. Excerpt: ... Lecture III. Injuries to joints; Treatment of Sprains; Wounds; Foreign bodies in the eye and ear; The signs of Fracture, and first aid to be rendered in such accidents; The application of Splints, or other restraining apparatus. The first subject I purpose discussing is wounds and their treatment. Wounds may be either--i. Incised. 2. Punctured. 3. Lacerated. 4. Contused. An incised wound is that made by a clean-cutting instrument, such as a knife, a sharp piece of glass, or razor, as in cases of cut throat, which, unfortunately, are very common. A punctured wound is one where the depth of the wound exceeds the breadth, as in stabs and bayonet wounds. Lacerated wounds are those occasioned by blunt instruments, and where the parts are torn, and the edges of the wound rendered irregular. Contused wounds are those where the surface of the skin remains intact, but nevertheless accompanied by much bruising, and more or less injury to the subjacent parts. Buffer accidents on the railway are the most serious of this variety. Gunshot wounds constitute a species of contused and lacerated wound combined. Wounds are more or less serious according to whether they are deep or merely superficial. A deep wound stands the chance of having wounded some D important sublying vessel or viscera, and the life of the patient is endangered accordingly. Such cases had better be left alone until the arrival of a surgeon., A lacerated wound never heals as quickly as an incised one, and is more especially liable to be followed by erysipelas, &c. The edges of the wound being torn and jagged, suppuration must occur to get rid of this bruised tissue before a healthy healing surface is produced, whereas in an incised wound, the edges being cleanly cut, they unite together almost immediate..