“All these are good, and these we must allow, And these are everywhere in practise now.” Taylor the Water-Poet. The case related by Dr. Smiles is interesting to every Bone-setter, as well as to the public at large, for it drew attention to the fact that there existed a number of “specialists” who had made bone-setting and sprains their study, who had inherited the experience of their predecessors, and who, though not recognised by the “schools,” or enrolled under the various acts for the registration of medical practitioners, had done a vast amount of good and had alleviated a great deal of pain which had baffled the skill of the regular surgeons. Dr. William Chambers, in the Journal which bears his name, had drawn attention to the case of Mr. George Moore, in a review of Dr. Smiles’ book, which seems to While one correspondent has favoured us with his doubts on the subject of unprofessional bone-setting, others have written to verify cases such as that recorded by George Moore’s biographer. One of these communications is as follows: ‘In 1865, I had met with a severe accident on board a ship coming home from India, and among other injuries the middle finger of my right hand was much injured. There were two or three doctors among the passengers besides the ship’s surgeon, and they all agreed that it was merely a severe bruise. I thought little of it, hoping it would soon get right; but when six weeks had passed and the finger was still quite powerless, I consulted an excellent general practitioner in England, who said the joint was enlarged, and recommended an application of iodine, which took off the skin, but had no other effect. Two other surgeons—one of them a man of considerable repute—were consulted, but with no better result; and eventually I was persuaded to go to a bone-setter in Liverpool. The moment he felt the finger he said “It’s dislocated.” The treatment was very simple. The finger was enveloped in a bag of bran and kept constantly wet for a fortnight, and then it was set. The operator gave it a violent wrench. I heard a “The case which led me to consult this bone-setter was much more remarkable. Among the passengers on board the same ship was an Indian civilian who had been severely mauled by a tiger, in trying to save a fellow-sportsman’s life, and had quite lost the use of one arm. He was on his way home to see if anything could be done to restore it; and his disappointment was great when, after some months’ treatment by one of the greatest of London surgeons, there was hardly any improvement, and no hope was held out of more than a very partial cure. While down in Wales, he heard of the bone-setter above mentioned, who was a native of the Principality, and determined to try his powers. In a few months, by simple treatment and the wonderful power of manipulation which this man possessed, the use of the arm was entirely restored, and has ever since remained so.”’ The gentleman above alluded to was undoubtedly Mr. Evan Thomas, of Crosshall Street, Liverpool, whose The writer of the above anecdotes expressly points out that he does not for a moment wish to disparage the skill and care shewn by the regularly qualified surgeons in ordinary and in many extraordinary cases. They are with few exceptions, upright and generous men, and their kindness and tenderness seem specially developed by the pain which they so often have to inflict; but there are cases—more frequent, I believe, than is commonly supposed—where something more than training and practise is needed; and there are a few men (and women too) who seem intuitively to possess this something—a gift of touch which tells them when a joint, or it may be a muscle or tendon, is not in its right place, and enables them to put it right. “It is this which I think the medical profession and the public generally should recognise, instead of speaking of these bone-setters, as is often done, as quacks, and their cures as fables, or at best happy accidents. In some cases the possessors of this gift have taken the necessary diploma which permits them to practise; in others they have not the means or education which would enable them to do so; or perhaps they have only discovered their gift comparatively late in life, when they have settled down to other professions.” “Surely,” the Editor remarks, “some means could be devised by which this gift, when it is discovered in an individual, can be utilised for the benefit of suffering humanity without the ordinary diploma, and yet with some check which would prevent imposture. The first step is the recognition that such a gift does exist; and then let it be the subject of intelligent inquiry.” The next instance given in the Journal before referred (pp. 712) is contributed by a well-known clergyman of Northamptonshire, and is a voluntary and unlooked for testimonial to the author. He writes as follows:—“Some twelve years since, when returning from a visit to a friend on a bitterly cold December evening, I “One day a neighbour suggested my seeing a celebrated bone-setter who pays a weekly visit to this neighbourhood. I eagerly adopted the suggestion, and by the aid of two sticks, attended by a friend, I contrived to get into and out of the train, and reached the bone-setter’s residence in due course. He first directed me to undress, and placed a chair to rest my leg upon. After manipulating the limb, he pressed my leg with such force that I fainted away, and when I recovered my senses, the perspiration was literally streaming down my face. I asked “For some ten minutes afterwards I felt very faint and in great pain; and without noticing his movements, he again suddenly pressed my leg, causing me to faint away a second time; and when I came to, I found my friend at my side whom I had left up-stairs, and who, startled by my screams, had hastened down to see what was the matter. “The bone-setter then said: “Get up and walk; your knee was dislocated, but you are now all right.” To my inexpressible joy I found my knee replaced, and was able to walk as well as ever, and which for six weeks I had been unable to do without the assistance of two sticks. For ten years my leg was so well and strong, that I never needed the services of the bone-setter. Unfortunately, about two years since, in pulling off my boot I again dislocated the same knee, but in moving suddenly in my chair to reach a book, the joint returned into the socket, like the sharp report of a pistol. It has once since been out, but I have managed to replace the joint myself; but I occasionally go to the bone-setter to have the limb tightly plastered and bandaged, and over the bandage I always wear an elastic knee-cap. “A neighbour of mine had a bad fall out hunting about two years ago, and injured his shoulder, and for several weeks was unable to raise his arm, and like myself, put himself under the charge of his usual medical attendant. As the injury did not seem to abate, I advised him to go to this same bone-setter, which he did, and in a very short period he quite recovered the use of the limb, and is now able to drive and ride as well as ever; the remedy he was ordered to adopt was hard friction, night and morning, with rum and neat’s-foot oil. “I will mention an anecdote told me by this bone-setter. A poor servant-girl who had been an in-patient of a neighbouring infirmary for seventeen weeks, and had been discharged as incurable, consulted the bone-setter, who discovered her ankle to be dislocated. With a violent twist he replaced it, and she gladly left behind her, in his house, the two crutches she had used for upwards of four months! “Although it seems almost incredible that regularly qualified surgeons do not understand the art of bone-setting, or adopt their somewhat rough usage, I believe they really dare not do so for fear of being accused of The following is a case related by Dr. Wharton Hood, in his work on “Bone-setting:”— “A gentleman, whom I will call Mr. A——, when sitting on a stool at his office, hastily descended it to welcome a friend. As soon as his feet reached the ground he turned his body without moving them, and in so doing he twisted or wrenched his left knee. He immediately felt considerable pain in the joint, which lasted for an hour or two, but decreased as the day wore on, and he continued to move about as occasion required. In the night he was aroused by increased pain, and found the joint much swollen. Mr. A—— was the brother of the professor of midwifery at one of the principal medical schools in London, and he had the best surgical advice that London could afford. He was ordered to rest the limb and to apply heat and moisture. In this way he obtained some diminution of the pain, but the swelling continued. He at last sent for Mr. Another case was that of the Honourable Spencer Ponsonby, who is suffered to tell his own story. “On November 26th, 1864, in running across the garden at Croxteth, near Liverpool, I felt and heard something crack in the calf of my left leg. It was so painful that I rolled over like a shot rabbit, and could scarcely reach the house, a few yards off. I at once put my leg up to the knee in a pail of hot water, and boiled it for an hour. Next day, being no better, I sent for a medical man in the neighbourhood, who told me I had snapped a muscle, and must keep quiet for a few days. He rubbed in a “On the 2nd of May, Mr. C—— undertook me. He agreed as to the injury, but thought that, constitutionally, I was out of order, and gave me some iron, &c., without effect. My leg was also fixed in an iron machine to relieve the muscles of the calf from the weight of the leg. Another eminent surgeon came in consultation on June 26. He agreed in Mr. C——’s treatment, and in the cause of the lameness; as did Dr. D——, who was consulted as to my going to Wildbad. “August 14.—As I did not improve, Mr. C—— put my leg into a gum-plaster for a month. I then went “On September 7 the gum-plaster was removed, and galvanism was then tried for about three weeks. At the end of this time I went on a yacht voyage for four months, and, during the whole of this period had sea-water douches. All this time I had been either on crutches or two sticks. My health was much improved by the sea-voyage, but my leg was the same as before, and had shrunk to about half its proper size. “April 5.—Mr. F—— began his system to cure my leg. His idea was, that the muscles were separated, but that if brought together continuously, they would rejoin. I wore a high-heeled boot during the day, and during the night my heel was fixed so that it was kept in the same position. No good arose from this treatment; and consequently, after a month’s trial, I went to Mr. Hutton, who, on seeing my high heel, said: ‘What do you wear that machine for? Do you want to lame yourself?’ I “After a few weeks, during which he had been to the the North, and could not therefore undertake my case, I returned to him on June 27, telling him that I had in the meantime consulted surgeons who had assured me that, whatever else might ail me, my ankle was most assuredly ‘all right,’ but that I would notwithstanding submit to his treatment. He again examined me most carefully, beginning at the ankle round bone, and he then put his thumb on to a place which hurt me a good deal, and produced a sensation of a sharp prick of a pin. He proceeded to operate upon me, and after a time there was a distinct report, and from that moment the pain was gone. Mr. Hutton desired me to walk moderately, but to take no violent exercise for a long time, and to use a good deal of cold water. From that moment my leg gradually got better. I was able to walk out shooting quietly in September, and on the 14th October, having missed a train, walked home fifteen miles along the high-road. In the following year I resumed cricket, In page 103 to 109 of his work before quoted, Dr. W. Hood relates the experience of his father in treating of sprained ankles, in a manner similar to that practised by the bone-setter, and illustrates the system by these two typical cases, which, though by no means extraordinary in their treatment and cure, have been thought worthy of publication by him. Mr. J—— sprained his left ankle eighteen weeks before coming under treatment. For the first month he laid on a sofa; at the end of that time he was able to get about on crutches, and when he presented himself for treatment was compelled to use a couple of sticks. At no time since the injury had he been able to walk farther than two or three hundred yards without resting. He complained of pain on the inner side of the foot, and stiffness and pain in the great toe when he attempted to use his foot. He was operated upon for the purpose of replacing the bone of the foot, and overcoming the stiffness of the toe. He returned home by rail the same day, and, on alighting at the station walked half-a-mile slowly to his house. His powers of locomotion steadily improved, and four days after the operation he walked three miles. Mr. G—— came to Mr. H—— on the recommendation of Mr. J—— and also was induced to do so from the benefit he saw that Mr. J—— had derived from the treatment. In this case the ankle had been sprained and bruised by a horse falling on him a year-and-a-half previous to his visit to Mr. H——. Owing to the road along which he was riding having been much cut up by cart wheels, his injury was much more severe than would usually occur from this form of accident. When the horse fell he was not thrown but went down with it; the injured foot touched the ground, sinking into one of the ruts, when before he could withdraw it, the animal rolled over, wrenching and bruising the limb most fearfully. The foot was seen by Mr. H——, was still much swollen, and very stiff in all parts. He was considered to have “five bones out” and the usual manipulations were employed for their reduction. It required three operations, at intervals of a week, before the stiffness of the foot was removed, but at the end of three weeks he walked as well as he ever did in his life. When he came he had his foot in a sling suspended from his neck, so utterly useless was the limb. The advantage of the employment of movement a few J. F. (Stanmore) was thrown from a cart by the horse stumbling when going down hill. He fell on his right shoulder and side of his head. He remained stunned for about an hour; on coming to himself and trying to raise with the assistance of the right arm, he found himself unable to raise it, much less to bear any weight upon it. He succeeded with great difficulty in getting into his cart (the horse it appears did not fall completely and waited quietly at the side of the road) and driving home. He suffered great pain all night, the arm being perfectly useless, and the parts about the shoulder much swollen. He saw Mr. H—— the following day and was directed by him to poultice and use neat’s foot oil for a week. At the end of the week he was operated upon. Increased pain followed the operation; it was not, however, in the same spot, having shifted from the shoulder to the outer side of the arm, near the insertion of the deltoid. No improvement in power of movement occurred at the time; he could not raise his hand to his head or bend his forearm. On his next visit, three days afterwards, he said that the pain continued through the At the expiration of a week from the time of the operation, he appeared again; and he could then place his hand behind his head and also on the opposite shoulder. “With the exception of a slight stiffness, he considered his limb quite well.” Yet two other cases from the same source:— Mrs. J——, on rising from her chair one day in 1864 caught her heel in her crinoline, and fell backwards upon her sacrum. She did not feel much pain from the fall at the moment although she felt a good deal shaken. At this period she had been six weeks pregnant. On the fifth day from the date of the accident, having in the meantime, without any definite cause of complaint, been “out of sorts,” she noticed a feeling of stiffness and numbness extending over the whole of the body, but more especially in the extremities. Shortly after this occurred she was seized with convulsions of an epileptiform character. These convulsions they recurred at When operated upon in the manner, hereafter to be described, she felt “a sudden feeling of numbness of the The other case mentioned by Dr. Hood is given in the words of the patient, who states— “In July, 1859, I was playing in the garden with my children, when one of them tossed a large indiarubber ball into the adjoining garden, which was separated from my own by a stone wall about six feet high. I procured a pair of steps and got over the wall; and coming back I sat for a few minutes on the top of the wall, and then jumped down, alighting upon the gravel walk. I felt no ill effects from the jump at that time, but, awaking early nest morning I found my left leg very stiff, and sup “The next morning I sent for my medical man (Mr. A——) who after examining the knee pronounced the injury to be external to the joint, and I think he said some cartilage had been strained. He ordered me to pump cold water on it, which I did for several days; but the pain increased and the knee began to swell. Mr. A—— then ordered leeches to be applied, and afterwards a large blister enveloping the knee. After this the leg became very rigid at the joint, and flexed so that the heel would not touch the ground, and I could only move from one room to another by the help of crutches. After about two months’ confinement to the house my appetite failed and I became very unwell. I then saw another surgeon (Mr. B——) who thought that there was something forming in the joint, but that my general health was failing, and that I ought to have change of air, so by his and Mr. A——’s advice I went to the sea-side where I remained until November. “Whilst there I applied sea-weed poultices, and bathed “I returned home in November, and passed the winter with very little improvement; and having purchased a very easy invalid carriage with shafts for a donkey, went out when the weather permitted. I continued to apply iodine and kept wet cloths constantly upon the limb to keep down inflammation, and this treatment succeeded in a measure, but only so long as I kept the leg at rest; for on making the smallest attempt to use it the inflammation returned. In the spring of 1860 it was thought advisable I This knee cap I was however unable to wear, until some months later, when, the inflammation having subsided, I found it gave me some support; but I was never able to wear it without much discomfort. Up to October 1865 (a period of six years and a quarter) I used crutches—sometimes two, at other times one crutch and a stout stick and was never at ease, the knee always stone cold when in bed or otherwise resting, and hot after exertion of any kind—the pain becoming acute whenever I attempted to use the limb beyond just crossing the room. During this period (six years) I spent a portion of every summer at the seaside, and was withdrawn almost entirely from business. At length after so long a course of treatment, I ceased to seek further advice, “In June, 1865, I was recommended by a friend to consult Mr. Hutton, but when I had learned he was an irregular practitioner, I declined; and it was not until October, when, owing to an accidental stumble against the door-sill, I was in much pain again, that I acceded to the earnest solicitations of my friends. I then wrote to him and made an appointment. At the first interview he came to me in the waiting-room and, looking me hard in the face, he said, ‘who sent you here?’ I told him who it was that recommended me to him. He said, ‘Do you know that I am not a regular surgeon?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, then, what’s the matter with you?’ I told him I was lame. ‘Are those your sticks?’ pointing to the crutches. ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, let me look at your leg.’ He then instantly placed his thumb on the tender spot inside the knee, causing me great pain. I said, ‘Yes, that is the place, and no other.’ ‘Ah!’ he replied, ‘I thought so. That will do. How long have you been lame?’ ‘Six years.’ ‘What treat As a contribution to the patient’s point of view, and as a pendant to some remarks made in the course of the preceding pages, Dr. Hood thought it desirable to print a portion of the letter that accompanied the narrative:—
The publication of Dr. Wharton’s book, added to the published testimony of so many patients, awakened the “faculty” to the knowledge that after all there was something more than luck in the Bone-setter’s art. The change of tone was however gradual, with occasional relapses into the old line of thought, not by any means without misgiving. When professional attention was publicly drawn to the subject many instances came to light which showed that Bone-setters proceeded on true scientific which were neglected by, if not unknown to the faculty at large. As frequently happens the earliest instance of professional adoption of the art of the “Bone-setter” occurred in America. After the publication of Dr. Here was evidently an instance of manipulation, which, if done by a bone-setter, would be called empirical, but as it was performed by a retired surgeon, it was “scientific.” If the benefit is the same, why this difference of designation? Let the “faculty” reply in person—“What in the captain is but a choleric word; in the soldier is rank blasphemy.” |