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The result of any surgical procedure depends almost as much on the surgeon and his application of it as it does on the merits of the procedure itself. In no field is this more true than in the treatment of compound fractures. Here each fracture presents an individual problem, no two being exactly alike in any of the many particulars which affect the method and result of treatment. Even if one cannot or should not adopt a standard routine procedure for all fractures, it does seem that the treatment of so common and serious an injury should be more standardized than it is today. There is varied and conflicting counsel in textbooks and journals, and even in the large surgical services there is usually no standardized method of treatment. The results obtained by any of the various methods are not satisfactory. Cotton said: "Judging from what I see of end