ADVANCES IN SURGERY DURING THE WAR 319 



of the Orthopaedists both of this country and of England, the 

 general surgeon's view was broadened and his attention was 

 directed to preserving of function even at the expense of quick 

 healing, though in most instances the one did not interfere with 

 the other. As Sir Robert Jones, the eminent English Orthopae- 

 dist, expresses it : " The orthopaedic mind thinks in terms of 

 function." During the war preventive orthopedics was prac- 

 ticed, as distinguished from corrective orthopedics. The latter 

 is and has long been more especially in the province of the 

 Orthopaedic Surgeon. The former, however, should lie in the 

 province of every surgeon who has to deal with war wounds. 

 The world war has taught the general surgeon a lesson in 

 preventive orthopedics which will never be forgotten, and the 

 benefits of this lesson will be carried back with him into civil 

 life. Many deformities and crippling as to function will be 

 prevented which have hitherto occurred more or less as a matter 

 of course, requiring secondary operations or corrective orthope- 

 dics to gain what might have been prevented in the first place. 

 This advance we owe to orthopaedic surgeons and their insistent 

 teaching. Results obtained augur well for the future. But 

 to obtain them it was early learned that a consistent line of 

 treatment must be followed, not haphazard methods. This was 

 accomplished by having uniformity of treatment from front to 

 rear formations, so that the wounded, even though necessity 

 compelled him to pass through the hands of different surgeons, 

 was assured of the continuation of the treatment instituted in 

 his case by the first surgeon who attended him, and by the best 

 methods experience had shown as giving the best results in the 

 individual cases. 



Another advance in surgery or in being better able to do good 

 surgery was the aid and increased use of the roenigenol- 

 who, during the war, became a more important factor than he 

 had ever been. He operated far forward ; practically all cases 

 passed through his hands before operation and the information 

 he was able to furnish was invaluable in indicating the proper 

 operative procedure. Through advances in the roentgenologic 



