Mr. Charles Waterton, of Walton Hall, the eminent naturalist, who bears testimony to the good the Bone-setters have done, tells us, in the pleasant autobiographical notes to his _Wanderings and Essays on Natural History_—that every country in Europe, so far as I know to the contrary, has its Bone-setter independent of the surgeon. In _Johnson’s Dictionary_, under the article “Bone-setting,” we read that a Sir John Denham exclaimed “Give me a good Bone-setter!” In Spain the Bone-setter goes under the significant denomination of Algebusta. Here in England, however, the vast increase of practitioners in the art of surgery appears to have placed the old original Bone-setter in the shade; and I myself in many instances, have heard this most useful member of society designated as a mere quack; but most unjustly so, because a quack is generally considered as one devoid of professional education, and he is too apt to deal in spurious medicines. But not so the Bone-setter, whose extensive and almost incessant practice makes ample amends for the loss of anything that he might have acquired, by attending a regular course of lectures, or by culling the essence of abstruse and scientific publications. With him theory seems to be a mere trifle. Practice—daily and assiduous practice—is what renders him so successful in the most complicated cases. By the way in which you put your foot to the ground, by the manner in which you handle an object, the Bone-setter, through the mere faculty of his sight, oftentimes without even touching the injured part, will tell you where the ailment lies. Those only, who have personally experienced the skill of the Bone-setter, can form a true estimation of his merit in managing fractures and reducing dislocations. Further than this, his services in the healing and restorative art would never be looked at. This last is entirely the province of Galen and his numerous family of practitioners. Wherefore, at the time that I unequivocally avow to have the uttermost respect for the noble art of surgery in all its ramifications, I venture to reserve to myself the following (without any disparagement to the learned body of gentlemen who profess it) sincere esteem for the old practitioners who do so much for the public good amongst the lower orders, under the denomination of British Bone-setters. Many people have complained to me of the rude treatment they have experienced at the hands of the Bone-setter; but let these complainants bear in mind, what has been undone by force must be replaced by force; and that gentle and emollient applications, although essentially necessary in the commencement, and also in the continuation of the treatment, would ultimately be of no avail, without the final application of actual force to the injured parts. Hence the intolerable and excruciating pain on these occasions. The actual state of the accident is to blame—not the operation. The thanks of every