Manual of orthopedic surgery, being a dissertation which obtained the Boylston prize for 1844, on the following question: "In what cases, and to what extent is the division of muscles, tendons, or other parts proper for the relief of deformity or lameness?"

Front matter

UNITED STATES OFAMERICA.

ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY.

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Preface

The works I have consulted in writing the following Dissertation, are chiefly those of Guerin, Bonnet, Velpeau, Phillips, Duval and Little ; especially the brochures of the former, who has been for some time, the leading French orthopedist.

The writings of M. Guerin may be fairly criticised both for the wordiness and obscurity of their style, and for their unnecessary bulk ; but it does not appear that we have any right to question the accuracy of their statements. On the contrary, we may infer from the late report of the committee appointed by the Academy of Medicine to investigate this point, that there is no ground for supposing the evidence in any way warped or misrepresented.

It is possible that M. Guerin has availed himself of the suggestions of previous writers ; that in common with other specialists, he has over-estimated the importance and the efficacy of his art ; that he has been in-

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discreet in its application, and that " the division of forty-two tendons, muscles, &c, upon the same subject," was an audacious undertaking, rather than " a remarkable achievement ;" but it should not be forgotten that the scientific acquirements and practical skill of this orthopedist are undisputed ; that he is the author of valuable discoveries, confirmed as such by the Academy of Medicine, and that, much as he may be indebted to previous writers, the account has at least been squared, by the compensating drafts of those who have followed him.

The article upon Strabismus, the first of this dissertation, is somewhat disproportioned in length to the subsequent chapters. The materials were originally collected without the intention of incorporating them into this work. In allowing them to retain their present extent, I was decided mainly by the fact, that no complete treatise upon this subject had appeared upon this side of the water. The same is true of the chapter on Stammering, the operation for which is now a matter of history, a curious instance of the indiscreet zeal of some of the noted continental surgeons.