Compunction

“ So much, then, for bandages, whose only use is to prevent, by compression, the swelling of the limb, and to diminish, in some degree, the contraction of the muscles, which they press against the fractured bone.
40. These remarks apply equally well to the use of compresses; which make but a very feeble resistance against a powerful cause, and cannot be considered as any obstacle whatever to displacement. ”

“ Let us take a comparison; the greater the force with which a projectile is thrown into the air, the less influence the weight has in making it deviate; in the case of the blood its influence is still less. ”

“ There can be no doubt that when we firmly contract a muscle and maintain the contraction, the muscle is in a state of tetanus, in which the quivers of the partial contractions can be seen. We all know how difficult it is to keep the hand or arm quite steady. They tremble, and we can feel the vibration. ”

“ Upon this subject I have made a remark, it is that the quickness and the force of the contractions are not commonly greater if we irritate at the same time all the nerves that go to a muscle, than if we irritate but one. ”

“ Contusions of Joints.—Contusion is the mildest form of injury to a joint. Whether the violence is transmitted from a distance, as in contusion of the hip from a fall on the feet, or acts more directly, as in a fall on the great trochanter, the bones are violently driven against one another, and the force expends itself on their articular surfaces. The articular cartilages and the underlying spongy bone, as well as the synovial lining, are bruised, and there is an effusion of blood and serous fluid into the joint and surrounding tissues. ”

“ It is better also to bandage the parts above, as the thigh in the case of the leg, and also the thigh and leg of the opposite side, so that they may be placed in similar circumstances, and may both equally be deprived of motion; and that the supply of nourishment may be alike curtailed and open to both. The compression should be the effect rather of the number of the bandages than of their tightness. We relax first the part most requiring it, and have recourse to that kind of friction which will promote the growth of flesh, and to affusion. No splints. ”

“ The percussion treatment that I have suggested consists in alternate tapping or striking this region of the body with both hands. A chopping movement, using the outside edge of the hands, is very effective, and if you are very vigorous, the closed fist may be used. Striking repeatedly and alternately with the two fists, go over the entire region of the stomach and abdomen. This can be done gently or vigorously, according to your condition, and it is an invaluable and effective means of stimulating peristalsis and functional vigor. ”

“ It is to be known once for all, that in wounds of the nerves the medicine which cures punctures being of a bitter nature, it is not possible to cure with it the division of the nerve, as the parts cannot endure pungency and inflammation. And neither does the medicine which cures incisions answer with punctures. For its strength does not reach the bottom of it, the incision of the skin being narrow. A spare diet is to be allowed, and a soft couch ”

“ Every thing is so arranged that, at the instant the current is closed, a shock is produced either directly in the muscle, or in a given point of a nerve which is isolated for a length of about an inch, and still adheres by one end to the muscle which it is to stimulate. ”

“ To a gradually increasing extent, the contracting force, instead of being withdrawn when the muscle is inactive, remains; and, as we have already seen, an arm or leg that should be passive is lifted, and the muscles are found to be contracted as if for severe action. ”

“ When our object is to bring together parts which have become expanded, in other respects we must proceed on the same plain; and we must commence the bringing together from some considerable distance; and after their approach, we must apply compression, at first slight, and afterwards stronger, the limit of it being the actual contact of the parts. In order to separate parts which are drawn together, when attended with inflammation, we must proceed on the opposite plan; but when without inflammation, we must use the same preparations, but bandage in the opposite direction. ”

“ If I move my arm slowly and attend to my feelings, I am conscious of a peculiar impulse immediately preceding each muscular contraction, which I feel to be the cause of the latter. If I temporarily paralyze my arm by compression of the nerve and repeat the experiment, no muscle contracts, but I distinctly feel the impulse referred to. ”

“ The place made choice of for the puncture, is commonly at a middle distance between the navel and the pit of the stomach, but often as much nearer to, or farther from either as the operator, after a due scrutiny, thinks most proper; and in this, and the judging rightly how deep the needle must be thrust below the skin, so as to reach the seat of the morbific matter, and giving it a proper vent, consists the main skill of the artist, and the success of the operation is said to depend. ”

“ Is it not a task sufficiently difficult for the blood to climb from the feet to the heart, directly against the power of gravity, without being impeded, is its course, by compression of any sort—and above all, by ligatures.
But if these ordinary compressions of the surface of our bodies are so injurious, what are we to say of the practice of many females, and of most young women—at least in fashionable life—of compressing the chest? ”

“ SPRAIN or STRAIN
,—is a preternatural extension, and forcible elongation, of the tendons, beyond the power of immediately recovering their previous elasticity; or a sudden twist of some particular joint, by which the ligamentary junction sustains an injury, and produces lameness. Whenever they happen in the hip, stifle, round-bone, or shoulder, they then become serious considerations; the injured parts being seated too deep for the effect of external applications. In such cases it is seldom of use to lose time, and encounter disappointment, by persevering stimulants ”

“ The site of rupture in individual muscles is remarkably constant, and is usually at the junction of the muscular and tendinous portions. When rupture takes place through the belly of a muscle, the ends retract, the amount of retraction depending on the length of the muscle, and the extent of its attachment to adjacent aponeurosis or bone. The biceps in the arm, and the sartorius in the thigh, furnish examples of muscles in which the separation between the ends may be considerable. ”

“ After a bone has been moved by the contraction of a muscle, it is brought back to its position by the contraction of another muscle on the opposite side, the former muscle meanwhile being relaxed. Muscles thus acting in opposition to each other are called antagonistic. Thus the biceps serves as one of the antagonists to the triceps, and the various flexors and extensors of the limbs are antagonistic to one another. ”

“ The joints, or rather the ends of the bones which form them, display also in their configuration another use. The nerves, blood-vessels, and tendons which are necessary to the life, or for the motion of the limbs, must, it is evident in their way from the trunk of the body to the place of their destination, travel over the moveable joints; and it is no less evident that in this part of their course they will have from sudden motions, and from abrupt changes of curvature, to encounter the danger of compression, attrition, or laceration. ”

“ Unequal muscular contraction breaks up not only the form but also the mass itself, during all of which time it is made to act as an irritant by virtue of the movement of the uneven edges of the paraffin upon the adjacent tissue. ”

“ I only saw one case of a man who had been so punished, but many are those who have the tendons of arms and legs cut—a favourite punishment which gives the most dreadfully painful appearance to those who have undergone it. ”

“ All in contracting have to overcome the resistance of the antagonists. 3d. As in each motion there is always a fixed point, the effort which, after contraction, is carried upon this fixed point, is entirely lost. 4th. Various frictions injure also the motion. 5th. The obliquity of the insertion of the muscles upon the bones, an obliquity that approaches nearer a horizontal than a perpendicular direction, an obliquity not less remarkable for the fleshy attachments upon the tendon or aponeuroses, offers a double cause of weakness. ”

“ On both these the action of the muscle depends; for, if we cut the nerve belonging to a muscle, it immediately loses all power of action; and if we cut the artery which accompanies the nerve, it does the same. ”

“ Friction and manipulation can be used alternately, varied with rapid pinching of the skin and deeper grasping of the subcutaneous cellular tissue and muscular masses, and, when necessary, with percussion, passive, assistive, and resistive movements, finishing one convenient surface or limb before passing to another, and occupying from half an hour to an hour with all or part of these procedures. ”

“ Acupuncture is performed first in the hollow of the elbow of each arm, and is regarded as successful if blood flows from the wound. If the blood does not appear, the case is regarded as grave, and the operation is repeated in the abdomen, with drawing back and forth of the needle. ”

“ Treatment of Affections of the Joints.—After the infliction of a wound, accidental or not, in order to prevent inflammation of a joint from becoming violent, it is of the utmost importance to bring the edges of the wound into close apposition. Sometimes neither local action, nor disturbance of the constitution, supervene on an opening, even of considerable size, being made into a joint, while the slightest puncture often gives rise to the most dreadful symptoms, both local and general. ”

“ The contraction of a muscle, besides compressing its components, compresses neighbouring tissues; and every instant contractions and relaxations of muscles go on throughout the limbs and body during active exertion. ”

“ No, some have them streight, others transverse, and others oblique or circular, according to the several Motions to which they are appropriated.
How many sorts of Muscles are there with respecting to their Action?
There are two different kinds, viz. the Antagonists and the Congenerate; the former are those that produce opposite Motions; as a Flexor and an Extensor, a Depressor and a Levator. The Congenerate are those that contribute to one and the same Action; as when there are two Flexors or two Extensors, and then one supplies the defect of the other ”

“ These tendons and bones exercise a constant pressure on each side of the middle line, when the animal is running or walking, and this pressure, together with the concussion with the ground, appears to have permitted the protrusion of the middle line in the form of a keel, while the lateral parts have been supported and even compressed. ”

“ There is as it respects the duration of the contractions a remarkable difference in the muscles, according as we excite these contractions artificially or naturally.
When upon a living animal or one recently killed, we excite the muscle itself, or we stimulate its nerves, the relaxation succeeds almost suddenly the contraction; neither state is ever lasting, though we continue for a long time the action of the stimulant; the effect which it has produced is immediately exhausted. When galvanism, mechanical or chemical agents are used in our experiments, the phenomenon is the same. ”

“ If the body, when projecting under the integuments, be gently compressed, it yields to the pressure, changes its situation, and, according to the impression it has received, moves either to the internal or the external side of the joint, or reciprocally from one side to the other, passing also behind the rotula, behind the inferior ligament, or sometimes behind the tendon of the extensor muscles. ”

“ The large mass of protruded tissue was often most striking when a muscle such as the biceps in fig. 48 had been divided; but the herniæ were more persistent when the mass projected in regions where tendons formed a large integral constituent, as at the wrist or lower third of the forearm. The protruding tissues naturally consisted of many varieties, according to what lay in the track of any particular wound. ”

“ The force used here and elsewhere must be carefully graduated so as to allow the patient's tissues to glide freely upon each other; for, if too great, the movement will be frustrated by the compression and perhaps bruising of the tissues; if too light, the operators fingers will slip; and, if gliding with strong compression be used, the skin will be chafed. ”

“ I can still cough up pieces of boxing-gloves, and when I close my eyes I can see calcium lights and blue phosphorescent gleams across the horizon; but I am thoroughly convinced that there is no physical exercise which yields the same amount of health and elastic vigor to the puncher that the manly art does. To the punchee, also, it affords a large wad of glad surprises and nose bleed, which cannot be hurtful to those who hanker for the pleasing nervous shock, the spinal jar and the pyrotechnic concussion. ”