A treatise on fractures / By J. F. Malgaigne ... Tr. from the French, with notes and additions, by John H. Packard, M. D.

  • Malgaigne, J.-F. (Joseph-François), 1806-1865.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on fractures / By J. F. Malgaigne ... Tr. from the French, with notes and additions, by John H. Packard, M. D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    11/754 (page 9)
    PREFACE. I now offer to the public the first part of a work long since con- ceived of, with a view of filling a gap in our surgical literature. England and Germany have already produced several treatises upon fractures and luxations; and it is perhaps surprising that France should be behind-hand. It is however necessary, in a matter so important, that we should be in possession of something more than is contained in our general treatises on pathology. We are beyond the time when Richerand declared that the treatment of luxations, for instance, was almost in that ideal state called perfection. Numerous recent works have shown how many errors and omissions exist in the history of this class of injuries, so that this fact does not need to be insisted upon here. In regard to fractures, the demonstration is not so clear; yet I am ready to assert that their study is not in a more advanced state than that of luxations, and that too often, in both, imaginary lesions are pointed out, and real ones unrecognised. The character which I have mainly sought to give this work is that of reality. In a historical point of view, I have aimed at pre- senting a resume of all the doctrines and ideas maintained from the earliest times to our own day, having recourse as much as possible to the original works. As to my teachings, I have asserted nothing unsupported by facts, drawn either from my own experience or from that of others. Where clinical observation was insufficient, I have