The Healing of Wounds as Determined by Their Tensile Strength

An uncomplicated incised wound presents for analysis the simplest form of disease, for the injury is primarily mechanical and finished and the reparative process is not subject to the interference of further injury. It also falls well within the definition of a "self-limited disease" given by Jacob Bigelow,1as one "to which there is due a certain succession of processes, to be completed in a certain time; which time and processes may vary with the constitution and condition of the patient, and may tend to death, or to recovery, but are not known to be shortened, or greatly changed by medical treatment." Recovery in the case of a wound accomplishes two main purposes: the reconstruction of the gross continuity of the tissue involved and the restoration of its function. When the latter is that of weight bearing or of the transmission of physical stress, it is accomplished in the