88 Biographical Account of [Aug. 



Dupuytren possessed that species of eloquence which 

 classical authors term deliberative. If it was necessary to 

 persuade a patient of the necessity of undergoing a painful 

 operation, in Dupuytren was exhibited on that occasion, 

 how important the gift of language is to a surgeon. He 

 accomplished the expression of Cicero. ** Tantam vim 

 habet flexamina atque regina rerum oratio, ut non modo 

 inclinantem erigere, aut stantem inclinare, sed etiam adver- 

 santem et repugnantem rapere possit." 



It was an interesting sight to witness Dupuytren instruct- 

 ing young children how to use their eyes, when he had given 

 them the use of these organs by an operation for congenital 

 cataract. Children in this predicament, instead of using 

 their eyes, are in the habit of stretching out their hands, 

 like animals destined to live in darkness. Our surgeon, 

 however, fixed their hands behind their backs, and standing 

 at the extremity of the ward with the patient at the other 

 end, and in presence of the students, he would call out, 

 *' Run my little fellow." This he could not do, but he 

 walked and soon reached the restorer of his sight. These 

 are traits in his character, which can never be erased from 

 the recollections of his students. It has been said that 

 'Dupuytren disliked men, and that he never loved any 

 body. It was injpossible for any one who had seen him 

 caress the little children in the circumstances mentioned, 

 to give credit to such statements. Even the enemies of 

 Dupuytren, granted that he excelled in a high degree in 

 forming a diagnosis. ^ The following fact illustrates this 

 in a striking point of view. A man had received a con- 

 siderable time before he applied to Dupuytren, a blow on 

 the head. The original accident was not severe, but 

 nervous symptoms subsequently appeared, which obliged 

 him to apply to a surgeon. Dupuytren having examined 

 the man, said to his assistants, " Have the trepanning in- 

 struments ready to-morrow." The students were astonished 



• His confidence in his own diagnosis was unlimited and inflexible. In con- 

 sultations, Mr. King has known him stand alone in an opinion, and at last obtain 

 permission to prove its correctness by an operation, which, if it had not fulfilled 

 his predictions, would have gone far to ruin him. And thus, and not by idle 

 boasting, he obtained a reputation which nothing could shake. How he silenced 

 his opponents they well can bear witness who saw him plunge a knife many inches 

 deep in the lumbar region, to let out pus, which, contrary to their opinion, his 

 seldom-erring; touch had detected there. 



