The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1890-05-20 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

TERRIBLE WIFE MURDER.  CORRESPONDENCE.  BONE-SETTING.  TO THE EDITOR OF THE "BARROW HERALD."  Sir,—Having seen in your paper another reference to a bone-setting case, it occurs to me as being in season to lay before your readers some remarks in the abstract upon the acquisition of that part of surgery, as its present position seems altogether unaccountable to people in general. There is really very little need for anyone to make such a mystery about this acquisition, for, though the anatomy of the bones and muscles are so wonderfully arranged, still, to intelligent youth possessed of strong mechanical abilities, the study presents little difficulty, because to them it is purely and simply a beautiful mechanical arrangement. Hence it is why some out of many families in our northern counties have for generations successfully studied it, and it is for such reason, on the other hand, that those so-called "skilled doctors" fail in it, if they are not naturally of that mechanical turn of mind which is so essential. And as they in their studies pay little attention to it, the natural consequence is that very few of them are fit to be trusted with a dislocation or a fracture, and when it comes to displaced muscles, they are utterly at sea. _ _  If rill those cases were treated by intelligent, non-medical bone-setters, there would not be a tithe of the life-long cripples there are. If it is required I can give you some most glaring cases that have come under my personal observation. Amputations and other surgical operations with the knife, where the parts are laid bare, is another matter altogether, although if there were fifty times less of that, it would ultimately be all the better for the sufferers. But a multitude of sins of omission and commission are obliterated by the knife.  The late Mr. Hutton, of Milnthorpe, was termed a mere bone-setter. Now, he is a strong case in point. He ultimately, became the great leader in the practice in London, towering head and shoulders above the most eminent of the faculty, and after his death the Times and other dailies had highly eulogistic leaders upon his exceptional ability. Now, those who wish to stop such men by law, little know the consequences of their desire' for, if followed up to its natural issue, it might become penal for anyone not applying to a doctor in cases of accident or other illness. Many of the doctors would not object to it gettink to this pass, hence their strenuous efforts from time to time in Parliament, with their medical bills of one sort or other. But many eminent statesmen see their motive, and are ever on their guard. Why, in these days of boasted freedom and Free Trade principles, should we allow any trade such a monopoly as the doctors have? When politicians are studying how to reduce the monopoly the lawyers have, it is very bad policy to, at the same time, try to make stronger another trade monopoly which may not appear so expensive as the other. But in reality it is much more so to the working man, and infinitely more tyrannical and disastrous to 811 concerned.—l remain, sir, yours truly, Kendal, May 17th, 1890.