Part 18
The bones of children are thinner and softer, for this reason, that
they contain more blood [than those of adults]; and they are porous
and spongy, and neither dense nor hard. And when wounded to a similar
or inferior degree by weapons of the same or even of an inferior power,
the bone of a young person more readily and quickly suppurates, and
that in less time than the bone of an older person; and in accidents,
which are to prove fatal, the younger person will die sooner than
the elder. But if the bone is laid bare of flesh, one must attend
and try to find out, what even is not obvious to the sight, and discover
whether the bone be broken and contused, or only contused; and if,
when there is an indentation in the bone, whether contusion, or fracture,
or both be joined to it; and if the bone has sustained any of these
injuries, we must give issue to the blood by perforating the bone
with a small trepan, observing the greatest precautions, for the bone
of young persons is thinner and more superficial than that of elder
persons.