[p. 153]wounds wherever situated become inflamed and swelled, owing to an influx of blood from surrounding parts. And neither must you
apply cataplasms and bandages to the forehead at all times; but when
the inflammation is stopped and the swelling has subsided, you must
give up the cataplasms and bandages. A wound in any other part of
the head must not be treated with tents, bandages, or cataplasms,
unless it also requires incision. You must perform incision on wounds
situated on the head and forehead, whenever the bone is denuded of
flesh, and appears to have sustained some injury from the blow, but
the wound has not sufficient length and breadth for the inspection
of the bone, so that it may be seen whether it has received any mischief
from the blow, and of what nature the injury is, and to what extent
the flesh has been contused, and whether the bone has sustained any
injury, or whether it be uninjured by the blow, and has suffered no
mischief; and with regard to the treatment, what the wound, and the
flesh, and the injury of the bone stand in need of. Ulcers of this
description stand in need of incision; and, if the bone be denuded
of the flesh, and if it be hollow, and extend far obliquely, we cut
up the cavity wherever the medicine cannot penetrate readily, whatever
medicine it may be; and wounds which are more inclined to be circular
and hollow, and for the most part others of the like shape, are cut
up by making double incision in the circle lengthways, according
to the figure of the man, so as to make the wound of a long form.
Incisions may be practiced with impunity on other parts of the head,
with the exception of the temple and the parts above it, where there
is a vein that runs across the temple, in which region an incision
is not to be made. For convulsions seize on a person who has been
thus treated; and if the incision be on the left temple, the convulsions
seize on the right side; and if the incision be on the right side,
the convulsions take place on the left side.
Part 14
When, then, you lay open a wound in the head on account of the bones
having been denuded of the flesh, as wishing to ascertain whether
or not the bone has received an injury from the blow, you must make
an incision proportionate to the size of the wound, and as much as
shall be judged necessary. And
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