Note 4 — A TREATISE

That process or operation in which the surgeon uses his hands to effect the reduction and apposition of parts, which cannot be accomplished by extension and counter-extension alone. If a bone be broken into two or three pieces, mere extension and counter-extension will not bring all the fragments into their proper places, so as to restore the natural form of the part. In such cases, the surgeon uses his hands to aid the action of the extended muscles, and this is the process which our author denominates conformation. The term occurs in many places in the course of the work. Trans.