[1] (_Appareil._) I am fully sensible that the word Apparatus, does not, according to the common acceptation of the term, convey, in English, precisely the same ideas, that the word “_appareil_” does, in French; but it certainly approaches much nearer to it than any other term found in English works on surgery. It signifies a collection or assemblage of means, used for the attainment of a particular end; and this is, in substance, what Desault meant by the term “_appareil_.” His “appareil” (apparel) for a broken bone included splints, bandages, bolsters, and every thing else necessary for retaining the fractured ends in apposition. The English reader will naturally enough annex the same ideas to the word Apparatus, as used throughout the present work. I have, therefore, thought proper to adopt it, rather than to introduce a new or uncommon term, and am sure, that, for all practical purposes, it will be found sufficiently expressive of the meaning of the original. And I am much more solicitous to become instrumental in giving some aid to the surgeon in the practice of his profession, than to escape the censure of the fastidious critic. TRANS. MEMOIR XV. On the Division of the Tendo Achillis, 355 MEMOIR XVI. On the Fracture of the Os Calcis, 374 MEMOIR XVII. On complicated Luxations of the Foot, 379 APPENDIX. ARTICLE I. Dr. Physick’s new and successful method of treating an old and obstinate fracture of the os humeri, 403 ARTICLE II. An account of Dr. Physick’s improvement of Desault’s apparatus for making permanent extension in oblique fractures of the os femoris, 407 ARTICLE III. Explanation of the third Plate, 409 PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR. The business of a translator, though very limited as to its range, may be extensive and important in its consequences, and, though humble in its end, is oftentimes extremely difficult in its nature. Prohibited from adding any thing to, or in any measure transgressing the bounds of, the meaning of his original, he is obligated to interpret that meaning with faithfulness and accuracy. In this latter point consists the difficulty of his task. If several different readers oftentimes attach as many different meanings to parts and sentences of works written in their own language, how much more likely will this be to occur with respect to such as are written in a foreign language? For readers to differ in the former case is common, in the latter unavoidable.