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. Our experience has been gained in connection with the _Fédération des Mutilés_, where hundreds of disabled men have been examined and fitted, and where we have always tried to give to each that appliance which is best suited to his work. For this indeed is the vital principle, and great disappointments will result if, for æsthetic reasons, every patient is given the same appliance, whether it be the leg known as the American leg or an elaborate artificial arm. More often than might be believed accurate imitation of the external form of the natural limb is incompatible with good functional use. This is particularly so in the upper limb. Perhaps the readers of these pages will gain a clear understanding of these principles; and we shall have attained our object if by enabling them to understand certain typical appliances we make it possible for them to devise others which are at the same time strong, shapely and practical.