The business of a translator, though very limited as to its range, may
be extensive and important in its consequences, and, though humble in
its end, is oftentimes extremely difficult in its nature. Prohibited
from adding any thing to, or in any measure transgressing the bounds
of, the meaning of his original, he is obligated to interpret that
meaning with faithfulness and accuracy. In this latter point consists
the difficulty of his task. If several different readers oftentimes
attach as many different meanings to parts and sentences of works
written in their own language, how much more likely will this be to
occur with respect to such as are written in a foreign language?
For readers to differ in the former case is common, in the latter
unavoidable.
The translator of the following work is far from affirming, that he has
in no instance deviated from the meaning of his original. To hazard
an assertion like this, would be assuming to himself more than is
consistent with modesty or, perhaps, with truth. He trusts, however,
that such deviations are very rare, that if they do occur they are but
slight in themselves, and never connected with facts or principles of
practical importance. He can, at least, very confidently declare, that
they have never been the offspring of carelessness or design.
Should any one open this volume in quest of the flowers of fancy, or
the embellishments of style, he will close it again without being
gratified. Ambitious only of communicating new and useful matter,
and too intent on things to be in any measure choice of his words,
the celebrated original was regardless, perhaps to a fault, of the
ornaments of diction. Rich in the resources of a capacious and exalted
intellect, he poured forth his knowledge like precious ore from the
mine, leaving to others of inferior capacities the humbler task of
refining and polishing it.
With such an example before him, the translator thought it best to
follow in some measure the footsteps of his illustrious guide, without
venturing to chalk out a new and different track for himself. As his
principal object, throughout the work, has been to make himself
clearly understood, and that in as few words as practicable, he has
never hesitated, when they came in competition, to sacrifice elegance
to precision and ornament to perspicuity. He has even in some instances
been guilty of intentional tautology, for the purpose of rendering
his meaning the more clear and definite. For this he flatters himself
he need offer no apology to those, who prefer utility to pleasure and
sense to sound. And, as to readers of an opposite cast of mind, should
any such choose to sit in judgment on him, he neither deprecates their
censure nor courts their approbation.
A circumstantial analysis of the following memoirs would constitute a
paper too extensive to be introduced here in the form of a preface,
and a mere outline or general character of them would be altogether
useless. The translation is now before the public, and every reader
must judge of its merit for himself. On this point the translator will
only observe, that the attention which he has been necessarily led
to bestow on the work, has been to him the best school of surgery he
ever attended, as far as relates to affections of the bones. Should
other practitioners throughout the United States derive equal benefit
from perusing his translation, he will rejoice in a consciousness of
having, at least in one instance, been of service to his country.
Such are the extent and importance of Desault’s improvements in
some branches of practical surgery, as to constitute a new epoch
in the history of the profession. His different forms of apparatus
for fractures and luxations are certainly more rational in their
construction, and more efficacious in their action, than those of
any other writer. But their excellence does not arise from these
circumstances alone. Their cheapness and simplicity, taken in
conjunction with the ease and quickness with which they may be every
where made and applied, greatly enhance their value, particularly to
practitioners in the country. If they be not already at hand, they
can be easily prepared by the surgeon or his assistants, without any
material loss of time. The sufferings of the patient, therefore,
whatever may be the form of fracture or luxation under which he
labours, need never be prolonged, by any delay in obtaining the
necessary apparatus. It is thus that the means and processes of every
art become simple and easy, in proportion as the art itself approaches
perfection: and thus that the truly great artist is known, not by the
multiplicity and the complex nature of his forms of apparatus, but by
the numerous ends which he accomplishes by means the most simple and
easy of construction.
Several French practitioners, in projecting improvements on the forms
of apparatus of Desault, have evidently rendered them more complex,
more expensive, and therefore more difficult to be constructed or
procured, without adding in the smallest degree to the efficacy of
their action. This is particularly the case with respect to Boyer, in
his attempt to substitute a new apparatus for a fractured clavicle, in
place of that invented by Desault. The latter can be constructed in a
very few minutes by the surgeon or one of his assistants, without any
expense, whereas the former must be made by a workman employed for
the purpose, and is necessarily attended with both cost and delay.
Nor is it always practicable, particularly in the country, to procure
a workman capable of making this apparatus. But this is not all. On
Desault’s plan, the same apparatus for a fractured clavicle will fit,
and may be applied to, persons of different sizes and figures; whereas,
on the plan of Boyer, each patient must have an apparatus constructed
particularly for himself. No practitioner, therefore, can hesitate
a moment in deciding to which of these two forms of apparatus the
preference is due.
Similar remarks may be made respecting Boyer’s apparatus for making
permanent extension in oblique fractures of the os femoris. It is much
more complex and difficult to be constructed than that of Desault. Nor
does it possess a single advantage over it as improved by Drs. Physick
and Hutchinson. In a word, the forms of apparatus of Boyer may answer
well enough in hospitals and in cities, where the expence of such
articles is not much regarded, and where workmen to make them can be
readily procured. But, as the practitioner in the country is generally
obliged to be himself the constructor of the forms of apparatus which
he uses, and as he is not at all times prepared to meet heavy expenses,
it is to those recommended and employed by Desault that he must
necessarily have recourse.
With these remarks the translator submits to the good sense and candour
of his countrymen the following sheets, as the offspring of some of
his hours of leisure throughout the winter. He hopes that the appendix
subjoined by himself will not be regarded as either an useless or an
unpleasing addition. Every native of the United States, whose bosom
glows as it ought, with that noblest of passions, the _amor patriæ_,
will witness with pride and exultation the improvements that are daily
making in the arts and sciences, by the industry and enterprize of his
enlightened countrymen. Such a mind will enjoy in anticipation the
glory of his country, at that period, when she will be able to reflect
back, with increased splendour, the light which she has so long been
borrowing from the countries of Europe.
The translator does not plead the want of time as an apology for any
imperfections or errors which his translation may exhibit. Yet he
believes it to be true, that had he had more time to bestow on it, he
could probably have rendered it more worthy of public patronage.