Orthopraxy : the mechanical treatment of deformities, debilities, and deficiencies of the human frame / by Henry Heather Bigg.

  • Bigg, Henry Heather, 1826-1881.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Orthopraxy : the mechanical treatment of deformities, debilities, and deficiencies of the human frame / by Henry Heather Bigg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    The course pursued in this case is that which would meet the majority of cases of a similar character. The deep interest taken at this time by the Queen in the welfare of her wounded soldiers was peculiarly graceful and touching. Few had more abundant opportunities than myself of witnessing the great solicitude displayed and the efforts made to furnish the poor fellows with every assistance that art or science could suggest^ or a munificent purse obtain. Her Majesty honoured me by personally requesting me to devise, and by inspecting the mechanisms I adapted, and she frequently expressed much satisfaction and delight at seeing the joy manifested, by several of the more severely injured, when they found themselves once again enabled to pursue their customary occupations. After the carnage of Inkermann, the large military hospitals of Chatham and Portsmouth were literally filled with patients suff'ering from almost every variety of disfigurement and m.utilation; and although considerable sums were col- lected under the auspices of the committee of the Patriotic Fund, and both wisely and widely distributed, yet the knowledge that the Queen interested herself actively and personally in whatever was done for the mechanical relief of the disabled, animated the spirits of the men more than anything else carried out in their behalf. Her Majesty^s privy purse almost solely supplied the means for purchase of the necessary prothetic appliances for those who had, in ^^ a soldier^s battle,^^ proved them- selves brave defenders of their country and its honour. I feel it is only a just and loyal act to mention that from Her Majesty^s example arose a desire to improve the mechanical appliances previously constructed for the wounded or injured poor; and that in the many admir- able inventions which have since resulted, an evidence is 7