ITS SURGICAL AND MECHANICAL TREATMENT. 77 



tion appears to have been performed about the year 

 1760, by a French dentist, a M. Le Mounier. " A 

 child had the palate cleft from the velum to the 

 incision teeth. M. Le Mounier attempted, with 

 success, to reunite the two edges of the cleft, first 

 making several points of suture to hold them 

 together, and then refreshing them with a cutting 

 instrument." 



Velpeau mentions that "in 1813 experiments 

 upon the dead body were made by Colombe, and 

 that he was desirous of repeating them upon a patient 

 in 1815, who, however, refused." 



From this date the operation was frequently per- 

 formed, both on the Continent and in America, by 

 men with whose names we must aU be familiar — 

 Graefe, Etel, Eoux, Dieffenbach, Doniges, Velpeau, 

 Hosack, Muttee, Warren, and many others. 



In the year 1821 Mr. Alcock performed staphy- 

 loraphy for the first time in England. But the 

 operation was attended with such difficulty, and the 

 results were so uncertain, that even amongst the 

 best surgeons it was generally believed that but few 

 cases were suitable for it. In Syme's " Principles 

 of Surgery," published in 1832, we read, "Fissure 

 of the soft palate may be united, in favourable cases, 

 by an operation similar to that for harelip, but 

 which is exceedingly difficult of execution, owing to 

 the situation of the parts, &c." 



Liston, in his " Operative Surgery,^' • pubhshed 

 1840, says — "The operation should not be com- 



