1st, The Glossocome, the bed of Hippocrates,[24] and other machines, used by the ancients, to effect a reduction, in fractures of the os femoris, and, at the same time, to maintain the reduction, by being left on the limb. [24] (_Le lit d’Hippocrate._) As many of the machines mentioned here have probably never been seen in this country, and as there is, perhaps, scarcely one of them used, at present, in any country, I shall not consume the time of the reader by troubling him with descriptions of them. TRANS. 2dly, Numerous machines, invented for the purpose of suspending a weight intended to make extension. These have been differently varied and modified, more by the imagination than the judgment. Engravings of some of them are to be found in Scultet, Fabricius of Hilden, Pare, &c. 3dly, The machine of Bellocq, proposed to the Academy of Surgery, a description of which is contained in their memoirs, and which possesses an advantage not found in the others, namely, that of taking its point of extension at the lower part of the leg. 4thly, The machine of Nook, surgeon at Norwich, improved by Aitkin, an engraving of which is given by Bell. 5thly, A new Glossocome, published in the works of Manne, and a great number of other machines, the ephemeral offspring of the genius of their authors, the utility of which experience has seldom confirmed, and which were even dead-born in the opinion of practitioners. I barely mention these, because a circumstantial description of them would lead me from my subject. 55. We may discover at a single glance the comparative merits of these two classes of apparatus. Extension produced by simple means, such as straps, splints, &c. (50), may at all times, and under all circumstances, be had recourse to; because the means necessary for making it may always and every where be found. Are we desirous, on the other hand, of having recourse to machines (54)? These are seldom at hand, and oftentimes not to be obtained: the expense attending the purchase of them, prevents most surgeons from procuring them. They no doubt possess the advantage of multiplying forces, and rendering them more powerful: but, I have already said (51), that a gentle resistance, if long continued, is sufficient to overcome at length the contraction of the muscles, though at first extremely active and energetic.