A dictionary of practical surgery : comprehending all the most interesting improvements from the earliest times down to the present period ... / by Samuel Cooper.

  • Cooper, Samuel, 1780-1848.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of practical surgery : comprehending all the most interesting improvements from the earliest times down to the present period ... / by Samuel Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    13/1178
    TO THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION. The utility of this Dictionary to students and all glasses of medical practi- tioners, has obtained for it in this country a larger share of patronage than was perhaps ever conferred upon any other book of surgery; while its translation into the French, German, Italian, and Russian languages, and several republi- cations of it in America, may be taken as proofs of its being deemed worthy of considerable notice in various other parts of the world. At Milan, one transla- tion of it was produced a few years ago ; and I learn from a letter, with which I have lately been honoured by Dr. Crescimbini, president of the Medico- Chirurgical Society of Bologna, that he is preparing another Italian translation, into which he proposes to introduce additional subjects, and such remarks as are founded upon his own researches and experience. The diligent and en- lightened Germans were not only the first to undertake and complete a transla- tion ; they have bestowed still greater attention upon my humble endeavours to promote the cultivation and diifusion of surgical science; for they have fol- lowed up their translation by a series of well-executed engravings, expressly designed to illustrate the nature of the diseases, accidental injuries, and curative methods, treated of in this Dictionary.-—(See Chirurgische Kupfertafeln, 4to. Weimar, 1820—1829.) Of these valuable plates, the publication of which I regard as an honourable compliment to my surgical labours, nearly fifty numbers have already been brought out at an extremely moderate price ; and it is with real pleasure that I recommend them to the notice of every surgeon who is a German scholar, as being the most useful collection of surgical and pathological plates ever offered to the profession. In preparing this edition, which is enriched with an account of all the latest improvements in surgery, I have conscientiously endeavoured to deal fairly and impartially with every individual whose name I have had occasion to mention, or Avhose suggestions form subjects of consideration in the ensuing pages. My aim has been truth, wherever I could find her ; and in every situation where any glimpse of her beautiful figure presented itself, I have ardently courted her, re- gardless of the name, school, or country on which she might deign to shed her glory. By steadily adhering to this principle; by zealously marking what the book of nature and the field of experience unfolded; by renouncing all obse- quious submission to every other kind of authority ; and by taking the liberty of sometimes thinking and judging for myself; I trust that the most likely plan has been adopted of maintaining the character of this book, and raising my own humble reputation. According to my usual plan, I subjoin the notice of a few things, which were in her inadvertently omitted in the articles to which they relate, or communi- cated to me after such articles had been printed. [The several additions which follow in Mr. Cooper's preface, for the greater convenience of the student have been inserted in the body of the Dictionary, under the respective articles to which they refer. They will be found desig- nated by the abbreviation Pref. affixed to the termination of each.]