The Treatise on Fractures and Dislocations was published in two volumes, between 1847 and 1855. It was the most famous work of Jean-François Malgaigne (1806-1865). Henri Mondor, the great French surgeon and literary as well as medical historian, had this to say of the textbook: "Malgaigne's Treatise on Fractures and Dislocations was published almost 50 years before Roentgen's discovery allowed doctors to see inside the body. It is truly a masterpiece. The vast amount of evidence collated in these pages, the perspicacity of the analysis, the wealth of new observations concerning fracture patterns and fracture displacements, the long-term follow-up of the patients, and the stages in the management of the fractures, far surpass any previous treatments of the subject. Future generations should continue to study this text." In order to enable today's surgeons to do just that, Maîtrise Orthopédique will, at regular intervals, be publishing a selection of the plates and explanations, from the famous Treatise.

L. Doursounian