_Some Modern authors have set forth certain small Tracts, which only explain a few Chirurgical Operations, and on that account deserve only the Name of Fragments. Indeed the Works of some others seem to be sufficiently compleat, but are printed in so large Volumes, and contain so many Discourses altogether foreign from the principal Subject, that they have almost the same Inconveniences with those of the Ancients. Therefore the Reader is here presented with a small Treatise of Surgery, yet very plain and perspicuous, in a portable Volume; being free from a Multiplicity of impertinent Words, and containing every thing of moment that has been producd by the most approv'd Authors both Ancient and Modern._ _An Introduction is made into the Matter by small Colloquies or Dialogues, to the end that the young Student may be at first lead as it were by the Hand; but as soon as he has attain'd to a considerable Progress in these Studies, this innocent and puerile manner of speaking is abandon'd, to conduct him in good earnest to the most sublime Heights of so admirable an Art; to which purpose, after having penetrated into its first Rudiments and Grounds, he is well instructed in Anatomy, and furnish'd with a general _Idea_ of Wounds and Tumours, which are afterward treated of in particular: He is also taught a good Method of curing Wounds made by Gun-shot, the Scurvy, and all sorts of Venereal Diseases: From thence he is introduced into the Practice of all manner of Chirurgical Operations in Fractures and Luxations; together with the use of their respective Dressings and Bandages._ _At the end of the Work is added a _compleat Chirurgical Dispensatory_, shewing the Method of preparing such Medicinal Compositions as are chiefly us'd in the Art of Surgery; so that upon the whole Matter, it may be justly affirm'd, that this little Manual has all the Advantages of the Ancient and Modern Writings on the same Subject, and is altogether free from their Superfluities and Defects._ * * * * * {1} THE _Compleat Surgeon:_ OR, THE Whole ART OF SURGERY Explain'd, _&c._ * * * * * CHAP. I. _Of the Qualifications of a Surgeon, and of the Art of Surgery._ _Who is a Surgeon?_ A Person skill'd in curing Diseases incident to Humane Bodies by a methodical Application of the Hand. _What are the Qualifications of a good Surgeon in general?_ {2} They are three in Number: _viz._ Skill in the Theory, Experience in the Practical part, and a gentle Application of the Hand. _Why ought a Surgeon to be skilful?_ Because without a discerning Faculty he can have no certainty in what he doth. _Why must he be experienc'd?_ Because Knowledge alone doth not endue him with a dexterity of Hand requisite in such a Person, which cannot be acquir'd but by Experience, and repeated Manual Operations. _Why must he be tender-handed?_