CHAPTER VII.

NATURAL BONE-SETTERS, 146

Setting of bones wholly mechanical. There cannot be an innate skill in this, any more than there can be in any other kind of mechanics. Explanation of bone-setting. Skill obtained in this just as in anything else. Bone-setter learns all that he actually knows, by his own observation, and from others. It is not born with him. Gets some of his knowledge by stealth. Errors committed by natural bone-setters. Supposing a fracture to be a dislocation. Injuries of joints in which there is neither dislocation nor fracture—harm sometimes done in such cases by the bone-setter. Failure in the medical part of the treatment in some cases. Failure in the management of fractures. Physicians not all good bone-setters. Mechanical tact requisite. Though so many cases of mal-practice can be found among the patients of natural bone-setters, generally supposed by the community to be infallible. Difficulty in getting a verdict of damages against them. Reasons why they, in spite of their errors, acquire a reputation for skill. Setting sprains. Facility of the imposition practised. Breaking up old adhesions. Stiff joints and contracted tendons—efficacy of rubbing. Imagined tenderness and inability of motion. Sub-luxations—random pulling. False reports of cases.