But order has been steadily evolved out of chaos and many things are now being done at the front that would have been deemed impossible not many months ago. As general principles of treatment are established it is found practicable to give effect to them to their full logical extent, and though there are still many obscure points to be elucidated and many methods in use that still call for improvements, it is now safe to say that the position of the art of military medicine and surgery stands upon a sound foundation, and that its future may be regarded with confidence and sanguine expectation.
The views of great authorities who derive their knowledge from extensive first-hand practical experience gained in the field, cannot fail to serve as a most valuable asset to the less experienced, and must do much to enable them to derive the utmost value from the experience which will, in time, be theirs. The series covers the whole field of war surgery and medicine, and its predominating note is the exhaustive, practical and up-to-date manner in which it is handled. It is marked throughout not only by a wealth of detail, but by clearness of view and logical sequence of thought. Its study will convince the reader that, great as have been the advances in all departments in the services during this war, the progress made in the medical branch may fairly challenge comparison with that in any other, and that not the least among the services rendered by our great Ally, France, to the common cause is this brilliant contribution to our professional knowledge.
A glance at the list of surgical works in the series will show how completely the ground has been covered. Appropriately enough, the series opens with the volume on The Treatment of Infected Wounds, by A. Carrel and G. Dehelly. This is a direct product of the war which, in the opinion of many, bids fair to become epoch-making in the treatment of septic wounds. It is peculiar to the war and derived directly from it, and the work upon which it is based is as fine an example of correlated work on the part of the chemist, the bacteriologist and the clinician as could well be wished for. This volume will show many for the first time what a precise and scientific method the "Carrel treatment" really is.
The two volumes by Prof. Leriche on Fractures contain the practical application of the views of the great Lyons school of surgeons with regard to the treatment of injuries of bones and joints. Supported as they are by an appeal to an abundant clinical experience, they cannot fail to interest English surgeons, and to prove of the greatest value. It is only necessary to say the Wounds of the Abdomen are dealt with by Dr. Abadie, Wounds of the Vessels by Prof. Sencert, Wounds of the Skull and Brain by MM. Chatelin and De Martel, and Localisation and Extraction of Projectiles by Prof. Ombredanné and R. Ledoux-Lebard, to prove that the subjects have been allotted to very able and experienced exponents.
Alfred Keogh.
PREFACE
No attempt is made in this little book to describe all the artificial limbs and appliances that have been invented. Before the war these were very numerous, since then their number has become countless, and not a day passes without the appearance of some new model of greater or less ingenuity.
But all these special inventions, the utility of which we should not think of denying, are only of real practical value if the makers have followed out certain general principles in their manufacture. In the following pages we have attempted to indicate what these principles are.