Tuberculosis of Bones and Joints #270101

Tuberculosis of bones and joints is such a common affection that a large percentage of the clinical material of the surgeon and the general practitioner is made up of such cases. The tubercular nature of most of the chronic affections of bones and joints is not as freely accepted and as fully realized as it should be by the mass of the profession, and consequently a correct diagnosis is often not made before the disease has become incurable. The successful treatment of these affections depends largely on an early, correct diagnosis and the adoption of a timely, rational, local, and general treatment in consonance with the true nature of the disease. The object of the author in writing this book has been to collect from recent literature the modern ideas on tubercular disease of bones and joints and present them to the reader in a condensed form, mingled, in appropriate places, with the results of his own experience. Old authorities are occasionally quoted for the purpose of showing the contrast between the old and recent views regarding the etiology and nature of this form of bone and joint disease. My thanks are due to Dr. Stehman for correcting the galley-proofs, and to Mr. Rettig for a number of original drawings. If this work should become useful in alleviating one of the most common ailments of the poor, and add something toward the advancement of the surgery of the bones and joints, the hope and ambition of its author will be realized.