Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

by George M. Gould; Walter L. Pyle

Baxter-Tyrie reports a dislocation of the shoulder-joint, of unusual origin, in a man who was riding a horse that ran away up a steep hill. After going a few hundred yards the animal abated its speed, when the rider raised his hand to strike. Catching sight of the whip, the horse sprang forward, while the man felt an acute pain and a sense of something having given way at his shoulder. He did not fall off, but rode a little further and was helped to dismount. On examination a subcoracoid dislocation of the head of the humerus was found. The explanation is that as the weight of the whip was inconsiderable (four ounces) the inertia of the arm converted it into a lever of the first order. Instead of fulfilling its normal function of preventing displacement, the coraco-acromial arch acted as a fulcrum. The limb from the fingers to that point acted as the "long arm," and the head and part of the neck of the humerus served as the "short arm." The inertia of the arm, left behind as it were, supplied the power, while the ruptured capsular ligament and displacement of the head of the bone would represent the work done.

Congenital Dislocations.—The extent and accuracy of the knowledge possessed by Hippocrates on the subject of congenital dislocations have excited the admiration of modern writers, and until a comparatively recent time examples of certain of the luxations described by him had not been recorded. With regard, for instance, to congenital dislocations at the shoulder-joint, little or nothing was known save what was contained in the writings of Hippocrates, till R. M. Smith and Guerin discussed the lesion in their works.

Among congenital dislocations, those of the hips are most common—in fact, 90 per cent of all. They are sometimes not recognizable until after the lapse of months and sometimes for years, but their causes—faulty developments of the joint, paralysis, etc.—are supposed to have existed at birth. One or both joints may be involved, and according to the amount of involvement the gait is peculiar. As to the reduction of such a dislocation, the most that can be done is to diminish the deformity and functional disability by traction and palliative measures with apparatus. The normal structure of the joint does not exist, and therefore the dislocation admits of no reduction. Congenital dislocations of the shoulder are also seen, owing to faulty development of the glenoid fossa; and at the knee, the leg generally being in extreme hyperextension, the foot sometimes resting on the abdomen. Congenital luxation of the femora, when it appears in adult women is a prominent factor in dystocia. There is a dislocation found at birth, or occurring shortly after, due to dropsy of the joint in utero; and another form due to succeeding paralysis of groups of muscles about the joint.

The interesting instances of major amputations are so numerous and so well known as to need no comment here. Amputation of the hip with recovery is fast becoming an ordinary operation; at Westminster Hospital in London, there is preserved the right humerus and scapula, presenting an enormous bulk, which was removed by amputation at the shoulder-joint, for a large lymphosarcoma growing just above the clavicle. The patient was a man of twenty-two, and made a good recovery. Another similar preparation is to be seen in London at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

Simultaneous, synchronous, or consecutive amputations of all the limbs have been repeatedly performed. Champeuois reports the case of a Sumatra boy of seven, who was injured to such an extent by an explosion as to necessitate the amputation of all his extremities, and, despite his tender age and the extent of his injuries, the boy completely recovered. Jackson, quoted by Ashhurst, had a patient from whom he simultaneously amputated all four limbs for frost-bite.

Muller reports a case of amputation of all four limbs for frost-bite, with recovery. The patient, aged twenty-six, while traveling to his home in Northern Minnesota, was overtaken by a severe snow storm, which continued for three days; on December 13th he was obliged to leave the stage in a snow-drift on the prairie, about 110 miles distant from his destination. He wandered over the prairie that day and night, and the following four days, through the storm, freezing his limbs, nose, ears, and cheeks, taking no food or water until, on December 16th, he was found in a dying condition by Indian scouts, and taken to a station-house on the road. He did not reach the hospital at Fort Ridgely until the night of December 24th—eleven days after his first exposure. He was almost completely exhausted, and, after thawing the ice from his clothes, stockings, and boots,—which had not been removed since December 13th,—it was found that both hands and forearms were completely mortified up to the middle third, and both feet and legs as far as the upper third; both knees over and around the patellae, and the alae and tip of the nose all presented a dark bluish appearance and fairly circumscribed swelling. No evacuation of the bowels had taken place for over two weeks, and as the patient suffered from singultus and constant pain over the epigastric region, a light cathartic was given, which, in twenty-four hours, gave relief. The four frozen limbs were enveloped in a solution of zinc chlorid. The frozen ears and cheeks healed in due time, and the gangrenous parts of the nose separated and soon healed, with the loss of the tip and parts of the alae, leaving the septum somewhat exposed. On January 10th the lines of demarcation were distinct and deep on all four limbs, though the patient, seconded by his wife, at first obstinately opposed operative interference; on January 13th, after a little hesitancy, the man consented to an amputation of the arms. This was successfully carried out on both forearms, at the middle third, the patient losing hardly any blood and complaining of little pain. The great relief afforded by this operation so changed his aversion to being operated upon that on the next day he begged to have both legs amputated in the same manner, which was done, three days afterward, with the same favorable result. After some minor complications the patient left for his home, perfectly recovered, June 9, 1866.

Begg of Dundee successfully performed quadruple amputation on a woman, the victim of idiopathic gangrene. With artificial limbs she was able to earn a livelihood by selling fancy articles which she made herself. This woman died in 1885, and the four limbs, mounted on a lay figure, were placed in the Royal College of Surgeons, in London. Wallace, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, has successfully removed both forearms, one leg, and half of the remaining foot, for frost-bite. Allen describes the case of a boy of eight who was run over by a locomotive, crushing his right leg, left foot, and left forearm to such an extent as to necessitate primary triple amputation at the left elbow, left foot, and right leg, the boy recovering. Ashhurst remarks that Luckie, Alexander, Koehler, Lowman, and Armstrong have successfully removed both legs and one arm simultaneously for frost-bite, all the patients making excellent recoveries in spite of their mutilations; he adds that he himself has successfully resorted to synchronous amputation of the right hip-joint and left leg for a railroad injury occurring in a lad of fifteen, and has twice synchronously amputated three limbs from the same patient, one case recovering.

Wharton reports a case of triple major amputation on a negro of twenty-one, who was run over by a train. His right leg was crushed at the knee, and the left leg crushed and torn off in the middle third; the right forearm and hand were crushed. In order to avoid chill and exposure, he was operated on in his old clothes, and while one limb was being amputated the other was being prepared. The most injured member was removed first. Recovery was uninterrupted.

There are two cases of spontaneous amputation worthy of record. Boerhaave mentions a peasant near Leyden, whose axillary artery was divided with a knife, causing great effusion of blood, and the patient fainted. The mouth of the vessel was retracted so far as to render ligature impossible, and the poor man was abandoned to what was considered an inevitable fate by his unenlightened attendants. Expecting to die every moment, he continued several days in a languid state, but the hemorrhage ceased spontaneously, and the arm decayed, shrunk, and dried into a mummified stump, which he carried about for quite a while. Rooker speaks of a fracture of the forearm, near the lower part of the middle third, in a patient aged fourteen. Incipient gangrene below the seat of fracture, with associate inflammation, developed; but on account of the increasing gangrene it was determined to amputate. On the fifth day the line of demarcation extended to the spine of the scapula, laying bare the bone and exposing the acromion process and involving the pectoral muscles. It was again decided to let Nature continue her work. The bones exfoliated, the spine and the acromial end of the scapula came away, and a good stump was formed. Figure 212 represents the patient at the age of twenty-eight.

By ingenious mechanical contrivances persons who have lost an extremity are enabled to perform the ordinary functions of the missing member with but slight deterioration. Artificial arms, hands, and legs have been developed to such a degree of perfection that the modern mechanisms of this nature are very unlike the cumbersome and intricate contrivances formerly used.