The setting of bones is wholly a mechanical operation; and there cannot be a natural innate skill in this particular kind of mechanics, any more than there can be in any other kind. It would be as proper to say that a man is a natural watch maker, steamboat builder, carpenter, &c., as to say that he is a natural bone-setter. A man may be born with a taste for mechanics in general, but not with a taste for any particular kind of mechanics. This innate mechanical taste shows itself in various ways, as the child grows up into the man; and it is governed altogether by circumstances, in selecting the particular branches of mechanics, from which it will seek its gratification. Every one applies these plain principles almost instinctively to every subject but the sciences of medicine and surgery. An exception is made of these, not only by the ignorant, but often also by the well-informed and the learned. The healing art seems to be cast out of the common pale of reason; and learning, as well as ignorance, often refuses it the plainest and most established principles both of science and of common sense. There has always been a disposition to mysticism on this subject, and the idea of a mysterious bestowment of natural gifts has been an error of all ages, and, I may add, of all conditions in life. I have said that bone-setting is a perfectly mechanical operation. The bones of the body are united together on simple mechanical principles by ligaments and muscles. When a bone is put out of joint, it is generally done by the action of the muscles, perhaps we may say that it always is so, when there is dislocation alone without any fracture. A man falls from a house—when he comes to the ground he puts out his hand, and the wrist, or elbow, or shoulder, is dislocated. If he were dead when he fell, no dislocation would occur, though there might be fracture; for the muscles would fix none of the bones upon any point of support, so as to give the head of one bone a different direction from the head of its neighboring bone. It is for the same reason that a man, whose muscles are relaxed and powerless from intoxication, is not apt to have his bones dislocated in a fall, though they may be fractured. After a bone is put out of joint, it is the muscles and ligaments which hold it there. In order to replace it then, the resistance of these muscles must be overcome by force gradually and steadily applied, so that the head of the bone which is thrown past the head of the other may be brought opposite to its proper place. When brought to this point it is to be pressed into its place, which is commonly very easily done—sometimes the muscles themselves do it.