A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones

Desault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph), 1738-1795Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5

Word count: 640K words
Chapters: 64

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones by DesaultAuthor: Desault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph), 1738-1795,Language: English, Class: RD: Medicine: Surgery, Release Date: Jan 3, 2019

Editor's review

This book is an 18th-century French surgeon Desault's treatise on fractures, dislocations, and other diseases of the bones, an important text from the formative period of modern surgery. Drawing on clinical observation, the author discusses the classification, diagnosis, and management of bone injuries, and the writing carries the hands-on orientation characteristic of surgical works of that era: it emphasizes recognition of signs, manual reduction, and fixation rather than abstract theoretical reasoning. For today's readers its main value lies in the history of medicine—it offers a direct view of how surgery built its knowledge system on touch and experience before the advent of anesthesia, aseptic technique, and diagnostic imaging. The case accounts also preserve details of 18th-century medical practice, making the book suitable for historians of medicine and readers interested in the evolution of surgery. A caveat: many of its specific therapies are no longer applicable in modern clinical practice, and readers should treat it as a historical document rather than a procedural guide, weighing its methods and limitations with a historical eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers and enthusiasts in the history of medicine and surgery
Medical students who want to understand how modern surgical knowledge took shape
Readers of cultural history interested in 18th-century European medical practice

Not a good fit for

Clinicians seeking modern guidelines for fracture diagnosis and treatment
General readers hoping for practical first-aid knowledge
Those impatient with old medical terminology and long sentences

Reading tips

First learn about the surgical context of the author's time, then read the main text; its treatment logic becomes easier to follow.
Compare the therapies in the book with contemporary textbooks, note the differences, and keep them as notes on medical history.
Focus on the case accounts and observe how the author derives diagnoses from physical signs.
There is no need to read every chapter; select chapters by topic, such as fractures or dislocations.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this book guide current fracture treatment?

No. Its methods belong to 18th-century surgical practice, predating anesthesia, aseptic technique, and modern diagnostic imaging, and its specific procedures no longer meet contemporary clinical standards. It is suitable as a document in the history of medicine, not as a reference for diagnosis, treatment, or first aid.

Do I need a medical background to read this book?

Some grounding in anatomy makes it easier to understand the descriptions of bone injuries, but the author relies mainly on clinical observation and the discussion is not highly abstract. Enthusiasts of medical history can follow the main ideas with background material, though they will need to adjust to the old terminology.

What is the historical value of this book?

It records how modern surgery understood and treated bone injuries in an era that relied on manual technique and experience, preserving case details and procedural reasoning. It can serve as a reference for studying the evolution of surgical knowledge, 18th-century medical practice, and doctor-patient relations.

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About the author

Desault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph), 1738-1795 Author

P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) Desault (1738-1795) was an eighteenth-century French surgeon known for his clinical work on injuries of the bones and joints. His representative work, A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones, discusses fractures, dislocations and other disorders of the skeleton in a systematic way, reflecting an approach that values clinical observation and practical treatment. Because public information is limited, details of his life, education and appointments cannot be reliably established; the library holds only one of his works and gives no nationality or dates (the dates are supplied from the authorized form of his name). Judging from the surviving bibliographic record, his writings were aimed at surgical practitioners and emphasize procedures and case description, giving them some reference value in the early literature on the treatment of fractures and dislocations and making them a useful sample of eighteenth-century surgical orthopaedics.