Strappado was a former military punishment in which the victim was tied with a rope suspended from a beam, slowly raised above the ground and then suddenly dropped and caught, frequently causing dislocation of a limb. Research Strappado
The rack was an apparatus of torture employed by the Inquisition, varying somewhat in its construction in different countries, though its principle was the same in all. The rack stood about one metre from the ground and consisted of a stout wooden framework with sticks across it in the manner of a ladder. The victim was stretched upon this frame, his wrists and ankles being attached with strong cords to two rollers, one at each end of the rack. These rollers were operated by levers which moved in opposite directions to each other. When the victim was securely fastened on the rack, the questions to which answers were desired were put to him.
Failure to reply satisfactorily was the signal for the two executioners to commence operating the levers. The result was the stretching of the victim's limbs and body. If persisted in, this was bound to cause dislocation of the joints or to drag off the members. In some cases the limbs were stretched in much the same manner as on the rack but by means of ropes and pulleys attached to rings or staples in the walls. Occasionally the tortures of the rack were varied or increased by the use of cords in addition to the stretching mechanism. The arms and legs were bound to the sides of the rack with thin but strong cords. These cords were wound around each limb three times, and a stick was inserted in each. When all was ready for the torture to commence, the executioners twisted these sticks, thus gradually tightening the cords and causing them to cut into the flesh until the bones were reached, inflicting terrible wounds. Research Torture of the Rack
Edward III was the son of Edward II and King of England from 1327 to 1377. Edward III was crowned King at the age of fourteen and assumed government in his own right in 1330. In 1337, Edward created the Duchy of Cornwall to provide the heir to the throne with an income independent of the sovereign or the state. An able soldier, and an inspiring leader, Edward founded the Order of the Garter in 1348. At the beginning of the Hundred Years War in 1337, actual campaigning started when the King invaded France in 1339 and laid claim to the throne of France. Following a sea victory at the Battle of Sluys in 1340, Edward overran Brittany in 1342 and in 1346 he landed in Normandy defeating the French King, Philip IV, at the Battle of Crecy and his son Edward (the Black Prince) repeated his success at Poitiers in 1356. By 1360 Edward controlled over a quarter of France. His successes consolidated the support of the nobles, lessened criticism of the taxes, and improved relations with Parliament.
However, under the 1375 Treaty of Bruges the French King, Charles V, reversed most of the English conquests; Calais and a coastal strip near Bordeaux were Edward's only lasting gain. Failure abroad provoked criticism at home. The Black Death plague outbreaks of 1348 to 1349, 1361 to 1362 and 1369 inflicted severe social dislocation (the King himself losing a daughter to the plague) and caused deflation; severe laws were introduced to attempt to fix wages and prices. In 1376, the 'Good Parliament' attacked the high taxes and criticised the King's advisers. The ageing King withdrew to Windsor for the rest of his reign, eventually dying at Sheen Palace, Surrey. Research Edward III
Dislocation is a surgical term applied to cases in which the articulating surfaces of the bones have been forced out of their proper places. The particular dislocation takes its name either from the joint itself or its furthest bone, and is called compound when accompanied with an external wound. The most common dislocations are those of the hip, shoulder, elbow, knee, and ankle, and the chief obstacle to their reduction is the spasmodic and violent contraction of the muscles consequent upon them, the application of considerable force being often necessary to set the joint. The most dangerous dislocations are those of the bones of the spine. Research Dislocation
In medicine, a fracture is the breaking of a bone. It is simple when the bone only is divided; compound when there is also a wound of the soft parts leading down to the fracture.
A fracture is termed transverse, longitudinal, or oblique according to its direction in regard to the axis of the bone.
It is called complicated if accompanied with dislocation, severe contusions, wounded bloodvessels, or any disease which prevents the union of the bones and causes them to be very easily broken.
A comminuted fracture is one in which the bone is broken into several small pieces at the point of rupture.
An incomplete fracture is one in which only a portion of the fibres is broken.
A stellate fracture is a series of fractures radiating from a centre.
When a fracture takes place there is a pouring out of fluid - lymph - and cells from the blood contained in the vessels of the lining membrane of the bone as well as from the vessels of the soft parts which have also suffered injury. This material surrounds the broken ends of the bone, becomes firm and consolidated, and in about three weeks is hard enough to keep the broken ends in position. A formation of bone then takes place round the seat of fracture. This is called 'provisional callus', because, when the process of repair is completed and true bone has formed to unite the break, it is re-absorbed and gradually disappears. Meanwhile a process of repair goes on between the broken ends, uniting them by the formation of true bone or 'definitive callus'. The more quickly and accurately after the break the broken ends are brought together, the more rapid will be the reunion. The treatment of a simple fractured bone is to bring the portions into their natural position and to keep them permanently thus, formerly by splints of some kind, pasteboard splints, for instance, dipped in warm water, with wooden ones exterior to them; or, as more recently, a mass of plaster of Paris may be used for the same purpose. Research Fracture
A splint is a medical structure used to immobilise a broken or diseased limb.
Splints may be made of any material, for example wood, leather, zinc, aluminium, or perspex. A fractured limb may be immobilised in an inflatable plastic splint as a first-aid measure, and a more permanent and less bulky splint applied later, moulded to the shape of the limb, for example plaster-of-Paris bandages, applied wet and allowed to harden, or glass-fibre bandages, which are lighter and more waterproof. Other splints are available for treatment of deformities and diseased limbs. Lively splints, which give support while at the same time allowing movement against tension springs, are used to restore hand function. Padded splints are used for babies with congenital dislocation of the hips. The legs are held in such a position that the hip joint develops normally. Research Splint
In geology, a fault is a dislocation caused by a slipping of rock masses along a plane of facture. The term also describes the dislocated structure resulting from such slipping. The surface along which the dislocated masses have moved is called the fault plane. When this plane is vertical, the fault is a vertical fault; when its inclination is such that the present relative position of the two masses could have been produced by the sliding down, along the fault plane, of the mass on its upper side, the fault is a normal, or gravity, fault. When the fault plane is so inclined that the mass on its upper side has moved up relatively, the fault is then called a reverse (or reversed), thrust, or over thrust, fault. If no vertical displacement has resulted, the fault is then called a horizontal fault. The linear extent of the dislocation measured on the fault plane and in the direction of movement is the displacement; the vertical displacement is the throw; the horizontal displacement is the heave. The direction of the line of intersection of the
fault plane with a horizontal plane is the trend of the fault. A fault is a strike fault when its trend coincides approximately with the strike of associated strata (i.e., the line of intersection of the plane of the strata with a horizontal plane) ; it is a dip fault when its trend is at right angles to the strike; an oblique fault when its trend is oblique to the strike. Oblique faults and dip faults are sometimes called cross faults. A series of closely associated parallel faults are sometimes called step
faults and sometimes distributive faults. Research Fault
Abbreviations
Research Strappado
