In 1845 Fergusson revived the plan of excising the head of the femur for incurable disease of the hip-joint, and it became established as a valuable operation, in spite of Syme’s violent opposition. In 1847 Mr. Fergusson excised the entire scapula, where the whole arm would otherwise have been sacrificed. In 1850 his attention became concentrated on diseases of the knee-joint, and before long he excised the joint for severe disease. Although the result was unfavourable, Fergusson, undismayed, repeated the operation successfully, and in spite of strong criticism and opposition, continued for at least fifteen years, it has become established. The strength of the feeling aroused on this subject was so great that once when Fergusson was about to excise a knee-joint at King’s College Hospital, a surgeon, once a colleague, publicly protested against the performance of the operation. Fergusson’s earlier cases were not always well selected for the operation, and he had many disheartening failures. But he persevered and improved in his selection of cases, and achieved what he regarded as the greatest triumph of conservative surgery. Some of Fergusson’s greatest triumphs were in connection with hare-lip and cleft-palate. His first formal operation in surgery was for hare-lip in 1828. Up to 1864 he had operated on nearly four hundred cases with only three deaths. The adoption in 1850 of a spring or truss to push the sides of the lips forwards, invented by Jem Hainsby (the old dissecting-room attendant at Guy’s), and the father of a child-patient, was of great value in preserving the mobile parts of children from undesirable movements. In regard to cleft-palate Fergusson’s labours were of even greater value, for he discovered by careful dissection the reason why the edges of the wound were so often prevented from uniting, and by dividing the muscles concerned, in addition to other valuable improvements in practice, he enabled many patients to gain an excellent undivided palate. Up to 1864 he had operated on 134 cases, of which 129 were successful, and only two failed entirely. It is unnecessary to go through the long list of successes won by Fergusson; but it is well to mention that when he found the existing instruments unsuitable for his purpose, he never rested till he had invented better ones. The bull-dog forceps, the mouth-gag for operations on the palate, various bent knives, and many other instruments and apparatus bear the stamp of his inventive skill.