(Read before the Surgical Section of the American Medical Association June, 1882.)
Non-union of broken bones is so uncommon an event in surgery, that it has been estimated that it does not occur in a larger proportion that one in five hundred fractures. And as fractures of the shaft of the femur constitute but a small per cent. of all fractures, it must follow, that not one physician in ten, in general practice, will meet with one case in a lifetime, unless his treatment of fractures should be exceptionally bad.
But should the one case fall to either of you, you will, after having exhausted the resources of written surgical authorities, and taxed your own patience and ingenuity to the utmost, most gladly avail yourselves of any practical hints upon the subject, however humble the source, before subjecting your patient to the peril and uncertainty of a resection, or the