Transcriber’s notes: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=. An underscore is also used in conjunction with curly brackets to indicate that the characters within the brackets are subscripted in the original text, e.g. a_{1} (seen mainly in illustration captions). The table of contents contains a mix of italicised and non-italicised entries that generally correspond to different heading levels in the body of the text, but the correspondence is inaccurate and not all headings are listed. No attempt has been made to correct these anomalies. The text contains several archaic symbols representing measures of weight that were used by apothecaries. In this text version the symbols appear to display correctly with most of the common fonts, but Times New Roman and Lucida Sans Unicode are the most reliable for displaying them in the html version. The main symbols are ‘ʒ’ representing the drachm unit of weight, and ‘℥’ representing the ounce unit of weight (8 drachms = 1 ounce). The third symbol does not have an exact computer equivalent and has been represented in this transcription by the character ‘ɱ’, which can signify ‘minim’ (a measure of volume equal to 1/60th of a fluid drachm), ‘drop’, or ‘part by volume’. Roman numerals x, v, i and j (i and j both represent 1) indicate the quantities associated with these symbols. Various inconsistencies of spelling and hyphenation occur throughout the text; some are simple typographical errors but most are probably variations attributable to the book's multiple authorship. Words with variable spellings that occur with similar frequency (e.g. _trocar_ / _trochar_, _aneurism_ / _aneurysm_) have not been changed, but most other spelling inconsistencies have been ‘corrected’ to the predominant form (e.g. _Caesarian_ --> _Caesarean_, _turbinate_ --> _turbinal_). Omitted letters have been corrected by inserting the missing letters in square brackets (e.g. sella turc[ic]a). Simple typos such as _uretha_ (_urethra_) and _polpyus_ (_polypus_) have been corrected silently, and likewise with missing punctuation such as commas omitted from the index and the table of contents. An apostrophe is used inconsistently with the proper noun _Bruening_ / _Bruenings_. Inconsistencies of spacing and hyphenation have been treated similarly. For example, spaces have been removed from the abbreviations _i.e._ _e.g._ and from percentage values. Compound nouns that occur equally often with/without hyphens, have not been changed, e.g. _bone forceps_ / _bone-forceps_, _attic wall_ / _attic-wall_, whereas those that are more frequently either hyphenated or not hyphenated, have been standardised accordingly, e.g. _punch forceps_ --> _punch-forceps_, _heart-failure_ --> _heart failure_. [Illustration: Cover] OXFORD MEDICAL PUBLICATIONS A SYSTEM OF OPERATIVE SURGERY