Author: Robert Druitt

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-16

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 9781330331866

Excerpt from The Principles and Practice of Modern Surgery The American Editor of the present volume can claim but little participation in the merits of it beyond what is due to an early appreciation of the excellencies of Mr. Druitt's book, and an earnest and successful effort to procure its republication. Upon a thorough examination of it with a view to this undertaking, it appeared that its author had been so eminently successful in collecting and arranging whatever could be introduced into such a work with advantage, as to forbid any aspirations for the honors of authorship to a revising Editor, even in the humble offices of annotation and commentary, and he engaged in the enterprise, ambitious only to be instrumental in the West, the best compend of the principles and practice of surgery extant. The only work of the kind to be compared with it, is the admirable Dictionary of Mr. Samuel Cooper, and though a high compliment, it is not an undeserved one to this volume, to say that, in view of its final purpose and uses, it is, in many respects, entitle to a preference. Mr. Cooper's disquisitions - historical and speculative - on various subjects, though always learned, ingenious and interesting, are frequently too elaborate and discursive for a book of practical reference, and the substance of them may generally be found given in brief and comprehensive paragraphs, by Mr. Druitt, and accompanied by such ample bibliographical references as will enable the surgical student to prosecute his inquiries under the light of all the best guides and authorities which the science can supply. The systematic and methodical arrangement of topics in one volume, while it may be a little less convenient in a manual for the practitioner, than the alphabetical order of the "Dictionary," nevertheless contributes essentially to its excellencies as a text-book for the student. In this respect it will be found to answer an important desideratum in the apparatus of teaching, and cannot fail to become a favorite as well with Professor of Surgery as with their pupils. A full course of surgical instruction, of which this should be an epitome or synopsis, would be as nearly a complete one, both in arrangement and matter, as the present state of the science and the didactic genius of the best teacher could produce. 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.