Treatise on the excision of diseased joints.

Syme, teacher and father-in-law of Lister, was one of the greatest of the Scottish surgeons. He is remembered for his method of amputation at the ankle (see No. 4459), for his speedy adoption of anesthesia and antisepsis, and for the above book, which showed that excision of joints is usually preferable to amputation – a principle soon generally adopted.