London, and Mr. Cusack, of Dublin, who were in raptures at the extent and perfection of the curative processes they witnessed.

The princely establishment of my excellent friend, DR. JULES GUERIN, at Passy, in the environs of Paris, and near the former residence of our illustrious countryman, Franklin, may be cited as far surpassing all the rest. The ingenious and distinguished founder has done more than all his contemporaries in enlarging the principles and applying the practice of MYотOмY and TENOTOMY to almost every muscle and tendon of the body.

But, to secure the success of these sections, the cure can only be completed by the most ingenious and beautiful apparatus of mechanism; all of which has been consummated with an elaborateness of perfection and skill which almost transcends belief.

This great improvement both in mechanical and operative surgery is destined to be to the human form what vaccination has been and is to the human features. As the discovery of Jenner has rid the world of a loathsome pestilence, and banished from our sight those disfigurations which made the most lovely lineaments and complexions hideous to behold, so will Orthopaedic Surgery, by its magic touch, unbind the fettered limbs, restore symmetry to the distorted form, give mobility to the imprisoned tongue, and directness to the orb of vision.

Like many other of the glorious achievements of surgery, it is based upon such simple and self-evident principles that it cannot but be attractive, and carry home conviction to the plainest capacities. Its adoption, therefore, must be universal; and the more so, because, liberally and extensively as the knife may be used, untwisting, as it literally does, the most misshapen, and revolt

ing, and convoluted masses of deformity, by dividing deep, yet safely under the skin, through the thickest and broadest muscles, until, as I have seen Guerin do, and in one operation, some half a hundred nearly* of these ropes of the human body were cut asunder, and the patient stretched out upon the table in his natural shape; yet are these operations, in many instances, almost free from pain, and without a drop of blood!

And another remarkable feature, and which gives the charm of magic to this truly brilliant triumph of our art, is the almost instantaneous restoration of every distorted part as soon as cut, and the righting of the limbs, and trunk, and head, to their wonted beautiful symmetry and proportions; as the proud ship that has been bent down to the rude storm recovers her position and resumes her stately course when the shrouds have been cut away.

Having myself pursued this new branch as a student with my friend Guerin for the last three years, and personally traced it through every step of its rapid progress, from its birthday, I may say, to its present perfected condition; and having also supplied myself with every instrument and apparatus employed, made at great cost, and under the special supervision of M. Guerin, and as a particular favour granted by that gentleman to me, I have thought that I could in no manner so well express my gratitude to him, to my country, and to my friends, for the kind feelings with which they have been pleased to cherish my name, as by attempting to found in this city an American Orthopedic Institution, by which the principles and practice of that inestimable science may be diffused far and wide through this my native land. I am sure, in addressing these observations to parents

* In the case I refer to forty-three muscles and tendons were divided.

and friends, I need make no apology for having introduced myself in connexion with this subject. I am persuaded they will hail with cordial approbation the establishment of an institution, and the introduction of a new department of surgical practice, hitherto a desideratum, and unexplored but most important region in the geography of Surgical Anatomy, and which is destined to supply such pressing wants and to fulfil such high purposes; in short, to redress the evils of feeble nature and to repair the injuries of misguided art.

Well knowing, from a long career of experience in my own country, the parental anxiety which naturally attaches to all kinds of deformities, I am satisfied that, in appealing more directly to fathers and to mothers, they will welcome any efforts which have for their object the relief or removal of the most unpleasant class of affections that can afflict their offspring.

In founding an orthopaedic establishment in this country, it has not been my design to serve myself only, but a higher and nobler feeling, I trust, has actuated me in this step, which I cannot doubt will be properly estimated by all who know me. I design it as a national establishment; and, should my life not be spared, trust to be enabled to make such arrangements that others may be benefited by it.

H

BELGIU M.

FROM Paris, accompanied by my young friends Dr. Schmidt and Dr. King, of New-York, we proceeded to Belgium, Holland, and Germany, and in our route stopped a short time at the capital of Belgium. We find, indeed, the beautiful city of Brussels abounding in charities of all descriptions and hospitals of great extent.

Here we notice a union of English with French practice; this mixed tone originating from so many of both these nations having selected this place for their residence. The English usages, however, and the English practice of medicine and surgery rather predominate. Netherlands has produced men of great merit in our profession; among whom I must be permitted to name Mr. Seutin, the author of the new system of healing fractures, now much adopted in that country and in France, denominated "La Bandage Immobile," or "L'Appareil Amidonnée," so called from the starch or dextrine with which the bandages are saturated, forming, when they and the successive layers of pasteboard are dry, an immovable encasement to the limb, as much so as if it were enclosed in a dried paste envelope of plaster of Paris. An admirable contribution to practical surgery under many circumstances.

We had the happiness of knowing the author, and of being shown by him every step of the process, and of hearing his proofs and arguments in favour of it. As is natural to an inventor, he is perhaps more enthusiastic in its favour than many who listen to and witness his illustrations. Many surgeons, with great justice, will object to the immediate application of this apparatus at

the moment of the fracture, and of this number we profess ourselves to be, from a fear of the perfectly inelastic character of the appareil, and the natural tendency we all know there is to vesications and excoriations when a recent fracture is too tightly bandaged, and the heat thereby is made to accumulate.

From instances which I have known of severe inflammation caused by this practice, extending frightfully through the limb, and from suppurations permanently impairing the functions of motion, I would advise great circumspection in the use of it immediately after an accident.

This was strikingly illustrated in the case of one of my surgical friends, Dr. Doubovitsky, professor of surgery in the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburgh. He had this appareil applied to a simple fracture of the left arm, involving the elbow joint, immediately after the accident. And so intense was the inflammation, which extended to the ends of the fingers, that contractions of the muscles and tendons, and such deformities of the forearm, wrist, and hand were the consequence, that I am confident he never will have the perfect use of the limb, notwithstanding all the aid that orthopedic surgery, directed by so great a master as Guerin himself, whom he came to Paris to consult, could offer to him. An inconceivable misfortune to a young and distinguished surgeon as he is.

But unquestionably, after the inflammatory symptoms have subsided, this process adds vastly to the comfort of the patient, and abridges greatly the irksomeness of confinement.

Seutin, however, stoutly maintains that an important part of the efficacy of his method consists in its immediate application after an injury. He cited to me ex