I have set about my task in a way which I believe to be new. The first advance in every great curative movement is made by a single mind brooding over facts gleaned by the bedside, the experimental bench, or the dissecting table; these are the critical occasions in the history Of Medicine; on such occasions are forged the implements Of the surgeon's armamentarium. I have sought to guide the reader to the hospital wards, the physiological laboratories, the dissecting rooms, and private workrooms in which the great advances Of orthopaedic surgery were made, and to introduce to them the Menders Of the Maimed as they were in the heyday of life. In only this way, I conceive, can Medical History be written profitably. I have frankly presented my History from a British point of View. Every great medical movement sweeps over all civilised countries; we are all involved in it. Nothing will please me better than that this self-imposed task should induce colleagues in other countries to write the same history from their national point of view. The surgical problems presented by the war were new in extent, but not new in kind. The doubts which were revived were Old; the questions which urgently demanded an answer were Of ancient times. What is the rightful place of Best, Action, Massage, Bone-setting, Sprain — rubbing, Manipulative Surgery, Electricity, Heat, Cold, Counter — irritation, in our orthopaedic armamentarium? What can operative measures do — grafting, suturing, transplantation? Is the periosteum capable of forming bone? To those and many other problems I have sought to provide the materials 011 which the right answer must be based.
