Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 478

1841.

Report of M. M. S. Hospital at Chusan.

459

the limb was much swollen; at first, it was thought that the ball had traversed the elbow-joint, but this was found not to be the case, and that the humerus only had been fractured. He remained two months in the hospital, during which time the wound on the inner side heal- ed, and on the outer side 2 or 3 sinuses only remained, at the bottom of which were felt some small portions of loose bone. The fractured bone became consolidated, and the elbow could be moved without pain; and the case promised to terminate favorably in every respect when it was last seen.

The case of compound fracture of the os frontis was in a boy of 16

years, and occurred in a quarrel which took place between some foreign sailors and villagers regarding the sale of a bullock, for which the price had been paid: but a misunderstanding arose, and the owners, wishing to get back the bullock, attacked the sailors, who, in self-defense, drew their cutlases on their opponents, and this boy received a wound in the head. Much blood flowed from one of the large branches of the temporal artery, which was wounded. The external wound was three-inches long, the os frontis was cut through about one inch, and a portion of loose bone lay at the bottom of the wound, which being removed, left the dura mater exposed for the space of a circle, half an inch in diameter. The bleeding gradually ceased, the wound was dressed with simple ointment and wet lint, and a bandage rolled tightly round the head. No symptoms of dis. turbance of the functions of the brain took place, but profuse sup- puration of the whole surface of the wound ensued; this, however, gradually diminished, and the wound closed completely, and the boy left the hospital, having merely a slight pain in the neighborhood of the wound with occasional feelings of uneasiness over the scalp. This case, as well as the former, required watching at the time the island was evacuated, and the hospital necessarily closed; however, it is to be hoped that they will both do well.

It is an interesting subject of inquiry as to what may be the pro- bable cause of the large amount of disease of the eye, which exists among the people of this country. From the delicacy of the organ, and its exposure to irritating agents of various kinds, it is in all coun- tries subject to many diseases, to which this people are liable in com- mon with others; but as will be seen from the subjoined list of cases, trichiasis, entropium, granular lids, catarrhal ophthalmia, pterygium, contraction of the tarsi, and opacity of the cornea, prevail to a very great extent, much greater than is the usual proportion in other parts of the world. It is evident that this cannot arise from the formation