ssue. In short, caries generally means tuberculous ostitis,
though syphilitic ulceration of bone has also received the same name.

Fracture.

_Fractures._--A bone may be broken at the part where it is struck
(fracture from direct violence), or it may break in consequence of a
strain applied to it (fracture from indirect violence), or the fracture
may be due to muscular action as when a violent cough causes a rib to
break. In the first case the fracture is generally transverse and in the
second more or less oblique. The fully developed bone is broken fairly
across; the soft bones of young people may simply be bent--_green stick_
or _willow fracture._ Fractures are either _simple_ or _compound_. A
simple fracture is analogous to the subcutaneous laceration in the soft
parts, and a compound one to an open wound in the soft parts. The wound
of the soft parts in the compound fracture may be due either to the
force which caused the fracture, as in the case of a cart-wheel going
over a limb, first wounding the soft parts and then fracturing the bone,
or to the sharp point of the fractured bone coming out through the skin.
In either case there is a communication between the external air and
injured bone, and the probability arises of the germs of suppuration
finding their way to the seat of fracture. This greatly increases the
risks of the case, for septic inflammation and suppuration may lead to
delayed union, to death of large pieces of the bone (necrosis), and to
osteomyelitis and to blood-poisoning. In the treatment of a fracture,
every care should be taken to prevent any sharp fragment coming near the
skin. Careless handling has often been the means of a simple fracture
being converted into a compound one.

In most cases of fracture _crepitus_ can be made out; this is the
feeling elicited when two rough osseous surfaces are rubbed together.
When a bone is merely bent there is, of course, no crepitus. It is also
absent in fractures in which the broken extremities are driven into one
another (impacted fracture). In order to get firm bony union it is
necessary to secure accurate apposition of the fragments. Putting the
broken ends together is termed "setting the fracture," and the needful
amount of rest is obtained by the use of splints. As a rule, it is also
advisable to fix with the splint the joint above or below the fracture.
In cases in which a splintering of the bone into a joint has taken
place, more especially i