Kitap 8
15
So if the upper bone has slipped out into the armpit and the patient is still young or supple, at any rate if the sinews are not very powerful, it is sufficient to have him held on a stool; one of the two assistants is directed to press gently upon the head of the blade-bone, while the other stretches the forearm; then the surgeon seated behind thrusts one hand into the point's armpit, presses the bone up with this hand, and with the other presses the elbow to the side. But for a more powerful patient, with stronger sinews, a wooden board is required, two fingers thick, and lon enough to reach from the armpit to the fingers; the upper end is rounded and slightly hollowed to admit a small part of the head of the humerus. In three places in this, with a space between, are two slots through which soft straps are passed. And this board, covered with bandage to avoid injury by contact, is so applied from the forearm to the armpit, that its upper end is put under the armpit: it is then tied to the limb by its straps, one just below the head of the humerus, the second a little above the elbow, the third short of the wrist, to which purpose the two spaces between the six holes are adapted. The limb so fixed is passed over a rung of a poultry ladder at such a height that the patient himself cannot stand firmly; and whilst his body is allowed to sink down to one side, the limb is stretched on the other side; and thus it comes about that the top of the humerus is forced upwards into place by the top of the board, sometimes with, sometimes without a sound. It is easy to learn that there are many other methods by reading Hippocrates alone, but no other has met with more approval in practice.
