Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/167

161 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 161 He also mentions the D. exulans as being a great enemy to the flying fish. The first of these mistakes, that the- Diomedea is entirely an antar[c]tic bird, we have now had abundant means of rectifying & saw the bird in equal abundance in 40 degrees north latitude as we did of[f] Cape Horn. It is, however, a remarkable circumstance that these birds should be found in such plenty in the N. Pacific, while not a single individual has ever been found in the North Atlantic. M. Cuvier also represents the D. exulans as living very much on flying fish. During all our voyage we never saw an albatross within many degrees of the region of flying fish. I have noticed these errors because they are the only ones I ever could detect in the Regne Animal of this distinguished naturalist, & who is undoubtedly better acquainted with the structure of organized bodies than any man in Europe. 24th. This afternoon an unfortunate accident hap- pened to the boatswain, who, in consequence of a fall, broke his thigh bone. This misfortune was occasioned by the slippery state of the decks from being continually wet. On getting brought to his bed I found the fracture was in the middle third of the femur & the upper part of the bone had nearly protruded through the skin. The leg of the same side had suffered very much by a previ- ous compound fracture, & at present it has been a good deal hurt. I found no more difficulty in the reduction than what was occasioned by the motion of the vessel. We soon found that it was impossible for our patient to remain in his bed with any degree of comfort & got a cot arranged for him in the cabin. In this case I adopted Potts' plan in preference to that of Desoult, because on account of the injury his leg had sustained splints were more unbearable on his leg[?] than on his thigh. March 5th. Of late we have had no amelioration of the weather, & my patient has suffered in proportion. His