“VELPEAU’S BANDAGE” LFRED-ARMAND-LOUIS-MARIE

A VELPEAU,a French surgeon, the son

of a blacksmith, \vas born in I 795. At one time he was apprenticed to his father’s

trade. Critics tell us he was not a scientific surgeon but lvon renobvn by virtue of his unceasing labors. \+‘e read that VeIpeau

WXS “a strong, capable, hard-working

teacher and operator.” Oliver Wendell Holmes had Velpeau in

mind when he wrote, “ a good sound head

over a pair of wooden shoes is a good deal better than a mooden head beIonging to

an owner who cases his feet in calf-skin.” No doubt one must gi\-e his teacher,

Bretonneau, a large measure of credit for

VeIpeau’s part in medical history. Breton- neau, also, was a scientist of parts. He is chiefly knobvn for his monograph on diph- theria j1826), in mhich writing he gave

the disease its present name, and also for the fact that on JuIs I, 1825 he per- formed the first successfu1 tracheotomqr in

croup. The correspondence between Bretonnenu

and his two brilliant pupils, VeIpenu and Trousseau, is thought by man): apprecia- tive students to be the most Interesting collection since Guy Patin’s.

VeIpeau was surgeon to several institu-

tions. He lvas, in turn, surgeon to the

Hapitnl St. Antoine (1828&30), La Piti&

i 1830~34), the Chariti: (1834+67), and Professor of Clinical Surgery- at the Paris

Faculty (I 834-67). He was the author of several important

works, among which we mention, “Treatise

on Surgical Anatomy” i 1823) (this was the first detailed u-ork of its kind), a three \.oIume treatise on operative surgery, \vith

an atlas (1832) (a work chiefly; important for its historica data), and “Diseases ot

the Breast” (1854), which takes its pIace

as the most important work on the subject

d . urlng his time. To the casua1 student of medicine and

to the surgeon he is mainly known for his

bandage, Velpeau’s bandage,-devised for retaining the arm, in fracture of the clavicle, in such a position that the hand

rests on the acromion of the sound side and the elbow is in front of the xiphoid

cartilage of the sternum. To others he is known for his classica description of the characteristic (,siI\,er-fork) deformity in CoIIes’ fracture, and for Velpeau’s hernia,

a femoral hernia in \z.hich the intestine is in front of the blood \.essels

Velpeau, at the age of

years, died in 1867. se\,ent>--three

T. S. I$‘.