A Dictionary of Practical Surgery: Comprehending All the Most Interesting Improvements, From the Earliest Time Down to the Present Period; An Account of the Instruments, Remedies, and Applications Employed in Surgery; the Etymology and Signification of the Principal Terms; and Numerous Reference to Ancient and Modern Works, Forming Together a "Catalogue Raisonnée" of Surgical Literature With a Variety of Original

Abstract

On my most recent birthday, now some time past, one of my sons presented me with vol II of this book with the long descriptive title. He picked it up in a secondhand book store when he noticed the medical title and ancient binding. Thus, I have grasped the opportunity of adding to my store of the medical knowledge of 150 years ago. I was hampered only a little by missing vol I for I could still range from hernia to zinc and in the appendix from hydrophobia to truss. There was no need to read large portions of the book though I did glance through it page by page. This is a good way to gain some comprehension of the formidable ignorance of our medical forefathers. They made pathetic though bombastic effort to conceal this ignorance under a flow of words some of which is pretty silly verbiage. The