It was, therefore, with diffidence that I collected from divers sources
the testimony of those who are beyond the reach of suspicion, as to
the cures which those who practise the “Art of the Bone-setter” have
accomplished, even after experienced surgeons have failed; but I was
reassured when I found that these recorded cures, and the repute of
the hundreds of thousands which have not been recorded, but which are
treasured in the memories of a thankful people, had aroused a feeling
of emulation (for I can hardly use any other term) in the surgical
world to adopt some of our methods, which up to a recent period,
they had publicly called the arts of the charlatan and the quack,
and resolved to practise in that “neglected corner of the domain of
surgery” which they had before ridiculed. They did not hesitate to
apply terms of approbrium to us when they were, according to their own
admission, ignorant of our practice, attributing our cures to “luck”
and our popularity to tampering with and trading on the prejudices of
the poor and ignorant, instead of inquiring into their truth.
Dr. Wharton Hood in his treatise “On Bone-setting (so-called)” has
pointed out that even Sir James Paget (eminent though he is in the
surgical world) spoke in ignorance when, in a clinical lecture
delivered at St. Bartholomew’s in 1867, he detailed the “Cases that
Bone-setters may cure.” His arguments were founded on conjecture,
therefore many of his conclusions were wrong. The great master of the
world of surgery, however, deserves the thanks of the Bone-setters
at large, for he was the first to stand forth in the whole of the
medical profession to announce that the much despised and ridiculed
Bone-setters were in possession of a “knack”—an art—which surgeons
had long overlooked and neglected which tended to alleviate pain and to
restore the use of lost limbs to unfortunate sufferers from accidents
and other external injuries. Dr. Wharton Hood appears to have taken
Sir James Paget’s words to heart, for becoming acquainted with the
late Mr. Richard Hutton, the well-known Bone-setter, whose name so
frequently appears in these pages, he studied his method of procedure
and practice. On the death of that gentleman, Dr. Hood published his
experiences with diagrams, and since that period—now some dozen years
ago a change has taken place in the expression of professional opinion
with respect to the art of the Bone-setter. There is no attempt now
to deny that in practical surgery, that what is called the Empirical
School, can hold its own against mere scientific theory. They have
vindicated our art from the charge of quackery and charlatanism. It
would now appear they now want to secure our practice as well as our
reputation as skillful manipulators. I feel therefore I am more than
justified in thus publishing the testimony of relieved patients, of the
almost recantation of the faculty with respect to our art, to justify
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