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chirurgica" of Jean Tagault (Paris, 1543), who in turn is charged with having borrowed the data from Guy de Chauliac's treatise; in his chapter on wounds in general, Paré has also borrowed largely from the same work; and the chapter which he devotes to the subject of special wounds is taken from the writings of Hippocrates; and, finally, he has transferred almost bodily Philippe de Flesselle's "Introduction pour parvenir à la vraie cognoissance de la chirurgie rationelle." Before we condemn Paré for plagiarism, and although the facts as stated by von Gurlt are undeniable, we should take several things into careful consideration. It is fitting, for example, that we should make some sort of an estimate of the value of the text thus appropriated, in order that we may be able to measure the seriousness of Paré's sinning; and, if we do this, we cannot fail to be struck with its insignificance in comparison with the admittedly valuable character of all the remaining text of these three huge volumes—text which bears every mark of being the product of Paré's brain. Paré himself, in speaking of his borrowings from other authors, says that his acts of this nature are "as harmless as the lighting of one candle from the flame of another." Then, again, there are several of these borrowings which are evidently the handiwork of a rather dull person, and this fact alone makes one bold to assert that Paré, who was certainly not lacking in brains or in a desire to follow the golden rule in his treatment of the property of such writers, could scarcely have been guilty of such clumsily contrived interpolations. Inasmuch, however, as many important facts bearing upon the question at issue are not within my reach, I am obliged, in my attempt to defend the memory of Paré, to fall back upon speculative reasoning. The medical profession at large has long since heard this charge of plagiarism and it refuses to attach any importance to it as affecting the personal character of Paré. It prefers to believe that he is guiltless and that somebody else—at a time, perhaps, when Paré, being well advanced in years, was too ill to revise the manuscript of the "Collection of his Writings" edited by Guillemeau—thoughtlessly yielded to