The Surgeons Vade Mecum

Author : Robert Druitt
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780265532805
Total Pages : 1020 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (328 download)

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Download or read book Druitt's Surgeon's Vade-Mecum written by Robert Druitt and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-10-20 with total page 1020 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Druitt's Surgeon's Vade-Mecum: A Manual of Modern Surgery F aw medical works have been more widely known and appreciated than Dmitt' Surgeons Vade-mecum. In England, I am informed that copies have been sold, whilst in America it has been so highly appreciated that a copy was issued by the Government to each surgeon serv ing in the Federal Army during the great Civil War. These facts would at once suggest that it was desirable to alter the book as little as possible. But owing to Dr. Druitt's ill-health he was unable to edit the last two editions with his old skill and energy; in'the last, indeed, he was obliged to share the labor with Professor John Wood, of King's College Hospital, and.\ I r. R. W. Parker. The latter surgeon illustrated and revised the chapter on Tumors, and gave much help in the portions dealing with gun shot injuries. His work has been but little altered. Mr. Wood revised the latter two-thirds of the book - a somewhat delicate task during the life of the author - and he seems to have limited himself to making consider able additions, in which he stated his own views and practice. Naturally, these additions contained very valuable material, and I have retained them, with acknowledgment of their source when they contained anything orig inating with Professor Wood. It will be seen from the above that the work has not been thoroughly edited for at least ten years; and when I say that in the eleventh edition, which appeared in 1877, antiseptic surgery is regarded as still on its trial, ligatures are left hanging from wounds, the extra-peritoneal method is re commended in ovariotomy, and we are told to hang a box of Macdougall's powder under the bedclothes to keep down the stench of a stump, it will be obvious to any who understand the far-reaching importance of these points that radical change was necessary. Again and again I tried to patch, but with such a poor result that the attempt invariably resulted in rewriting. The twelfth edition consequently differs much from the eleventh: scarcely a paragraph of the latter remains unaltered; and in most parts only the sense of the old book has been embodied with other material in the new. 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.