A Manual For The Practice Of Surgery

Excerpt from A Manual for the Practice of Surgery When the eminent publishers of this book invited me to write a work on the Practice of Surgery, under the impression that there was room for a new text-book on the subject, and within certain limits liberally left its execution entirely in my hands, with full permission to illustrate it as I liked, I gave the offer my serious consideration, well weighing its difficulties and its responsibilities. But when the Treasurer of the Hospital, to which I have the honor to belong, generously and kindly placed at my disposal the rich stores of in formation gathered within the walls of Guy's, in the shape of preparations, models, and drawings, I accepted the offer, and now present the result of my labors to the kind consideration of my professional brethren. That my task has not been completed up to the standard I had conceived I feel deeply conscious, although no pains or thought have been spared in its performance; but if the manner of the execution of the work be faulty, the matter I believe to be sound, for the practice I have inculcated has, in most points, been tested by experience. Throughout its composition I have tried to do full justice to the works of others, and by quotations have made them speak for me when I could; if I have failed to do this in all cases, it has been from want of space, for all through the work the object has been to give only what was essential, and to condense as much as possible. If I have drawn largely from the Guy's Museum to illustrate these pages, it has been because I found all I wanted within its walls, and possibly my readers will pardon me for having used my own material in preference to others', if they find it good. Should some of the opinions that have been expressed differ from those usually received, and the practice based upon them seem unusual, I must ask my readers to test them before they are condemned, for they have only been introduced after serious consideration. I have not consciously omitted any subject which comes under the notice of the general surgeon, although the rightly recognized specialties of eye, ear, and dental surgery have been excluded. To have given them in out line would have been to mislead, and to have done more would necessarily have added much to the size of the volume. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.