Part 33
It should be known that bones, which it has been found impossible
to reduce, as well as those which are wholly denuded of flesh, will
become detached. In some cases the upper part of the bone is laid
bare, and in others the flesh dies all around; and, from a sore of
long standing, certain of the bones become carious, and some not,
some more, and some less; and in some the small, and in others the
large bones. From what has been said it will be seen, that it is impossible
to tell in one word when the bones will separate. Some come away more
quickly, owing to their smallness, and some from being merely fixed
at the point; and some, from pieces not separating, but merely exfoliating,
become dried up and putrid; and besides, different modes of treatment
have different effects. For the most part, the bones separate most
quickly in those cases in which suppuration takes place most quickly,
and when new flesh is most quickly formed, and is particularly sound,
for the flesh which grows up below in the wound generally elevates
the pieces of bone. It will be well if the whole circle of the bone
separate in forty days; for in some cases it is protracted to sixty
days, and in some to more; for the more porous pieces of bone separate
more quickly, but the more solid come away more slowly; but the other
smaller splinters in much less time, and others otherwise. A portion
of bone which protrudes should be sawn off for the following reasons:
if it cannot be reduced, and if it appears
[p. 202] that only a small
piece is required in order that it may get back into its place; and
if it be such that it can be taken out, and if it occasions inconvenience
and irritates any part of the flesh, and prevents the limb from being
properly laid, and if, moreover, it be denuded of flesh, such a piece
of bone should be taken off. With regard to the others, it is not
of much consequence whether they be sawed off or not. For it should
be known for certain, that such bones as are completely deprived of
flesh, and have become dried, all separate completely. Those which
are about to exfoliate should not be sawn off. Those that will separate
completely must be judged of from the symptoms that have been laid
down.
