Tuberculosis of the Bones and Joints in Children

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Some years ago, through the kindness of Mr. Stiles, I was enabled to carry out an investigation of a number of cases of tuberculous disease of the bones and the joints. The pathological and etiological aspects of these studies were presented as a Thesis for the degree of M.D. of Edinburgh University in the year 1912, and a number of isolated papers have been published in various periodicals.

The disease was also observed from the clinical aspect, and a combination of these two investigations has resulted in the publication of the present work. I recognised that a collation of experimental and pathological results were of little value unless combined with the more practical clinical side.

The present work deals with the disease purely as it occurs in children, and this accounts for the omission of regional diseases which do not occur in childhood, e.g. tuberculosis of the patella.

The book is divided into two portions: a consideration of the disease from the general aspect, and an investigation of it as it appears in individual regions. At the end of each section there is a compilation of the more recent literature dealing with the subject, the author wishes it to be clearly under.stood that he has not personally consulted all of these references, they are added to improve the value of the work from a consultation point of view.

I have dedicated this book to Mr. Stiles, surgeon to the Children's Hospital and to Chalmers Hospital, and I cannot make too complete acknowledgment of my indebtedness to him. He originally embarked me on the study, he gave me access to the valuable specimens which he has such a unique opportunity of obtaining, and during the pathological investigation.s he repeatedly gave me the benefit of his wide pathological knowledge. The illustrations, with few expectations, I owe directly or indirectly to him.