Flexion of the leg upon the thigh, and flexion of the foot upon the front of the tibia.
Objections might also be raised to the above method on account of the pain which it may produce; but the flexion never needs to be so forced as to be unendurable to the patient; the position may be a little uncomfortable to a very sensitive person, that is all. Furthermore, it has been proven that a limb can be kept in a flexed position for several days, "nine by some authors," without any injury, and with a complete closure of the arteries. We do not expect, however, that this method of arresting hemorrhage will ever be adopted as "the" method in surgery, neither will it be necessary here to point out any cases where the practitioner can have and under certain circumstances be obliged to have to resort to this simple method. Military surgeons may also profit by it, for it is certainly a valuable and admirable mode, and so easily applied in cases of emergency by any one, if the unfortunate should be distant from surgical aid. I also believe that it would be advisable and certainly humane, to instruct the people in general, by popular lectures or through the press, the manner of stopping hemorrhage temporarily.
Fig. 4.
The simplest of all methods, however, to arrest hemorrhage is the rubber bandage. It has displaced in surgery the old tourniquet almost completely, which required a certain skill and anatomical knowledge to apply it; not necessarily so with the rubber bandage. Any one can apply it, for the amount of pressure needed to arrest the hemorrhage from a wound suggests itself. The rubber bandage produces but little pain; the patient is comparatively comfortable and out of immediate danger and anxiety; while in the meantime the proper attention can be secured.
I think it would be well if our health officers would direct their attention a little to the accidental hemorrhages, and if they do not possess the power, to refer the matter to the proper tribunal to enact a law that would compel all owners and corporations of factories, saw, planing, and rolling mills, and, in fact, every establishment where the laborers are constantly in danger of accidents, to keep on hand a certain number of strong rubber bandages, according to the number of men employed, and that at least several of the men, if not all in every establishment of that kind, be instructed in the application of the bandage. Steamboats and other vessels should carry a supply, and railroad companies should be obliged to furnish all watchmen along their respective roads with rubber bandages, and see that the men know how to use them in case an accident should occur. Every train that goes out should have some bandages on board in care of some employe, who knows how to handle them when needed. Many pounds of precious blood may thus be saved, and danger to life from this cause be averted.--Indiana Medical Reporter.
HOT WATER COMPRESSES IN TETANUS AND TRISMUS.
Sporer has successfully treated cases of tetanus by merely applying to the nape of the neck and along the spine large pieces of flannel dipped in hot water, of a temperature just bearable to the hand (50-55° C.).--Allg. med. cent. Zeit., January 15, 1881.