CLEFT PALATE: ITS SUEGICAL AND 

 MECHANICAL TEEATMENT. 



Read May ith, 1857. 

 By EDWIN SERCOMBE, M.R.C.S., 



FELLOW OF THE EOYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY OP LONDON, 



ETC. ETC. 



There are few lesions of the human body attended 

 with more inconvenience to the individual concerned 

 than Cleft Palate, whether we consider it as affecting 

 the utterance of articulate sounds, or whether from 

 the unpleasant suspicions as to its cause which may- 

 arise in the minds of those with whom the unfortu- 

 nate individual affected with it may occasionally be 

 brought into contact. There are few lesions which 

 have more successfully baffled the skill of the surgeon : 

 there are few which more amply reward him when 

 effectually relieved. 



Cleft palate must, from the nature of things, have 

 affected the human subject through all time ; it 

 must be coequal in antiquity with the other iUs to 

 which flesh is heir ; but we search in vain among 

 the oldest works on surgery for any directions for its 

 surgical treatment. 



Frequent reference is made to it by the older 

 authors, but the only remedy suggested is an 



