CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. XXxiii 



In Johnson's Dictionary, under the article 

 " Bone-setting/' we read, that a Sir John Denham 

 exclaimed, " give me a good bone-setter." In 

 Spain the bone-setter goes under the significant 

 denomination of Algebrista. 



Here in England, however, the vast increase of 

 practitioners in the art of surgery, appears to have 

 placed the old original bone-setter in the shade ; and 

 I myself, in many instances, have heard this most 

 useful member of society, designated as a mere 

 quack; but most unjustly so, because a quack is 

 generally considered as one devoid of professional 

 education, and he is too apt to deal in spurious 

 medicines. 



But, not so the bone-setter, whose extensive 

 and almost incessant practice makes ample amends 

 for the loss of anything that he might have acquired, 

 by attending a regular course of lectures; or by 

 culling the essence of abstruse and scientific publi 

 cations. 'With him, theory seems to be a mere 

 trifle. Practice — daily and assiduous practice, is 

 what renders him so successful in the most 

 complicated cases. By the way in which you put 

 your foot to the ground ; by the manner in which 

 you handle an object, the bone-setter through the 

 mere faculty of his sight, oftentimes without even 

 touching the injured part, will tell you where the 



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