Reverdin and Other Methods of Skin-Grafting

The ancients well understood the art of bridging over skin defects by the use of the plastic flap.The earliest mention of the procedure, em- ployed in rhinoplasty, is found in the Ebert papyrus, dating about 1500 b.c.Galen and Celsus wrote upon plastic surgery, as did also Antyllus and Paul of Aegina.It was among the natives of India, however, I hat the operation reached its highest development in ancient times.From the Ayurveda (c. 100 b.c.) we learn that plastic flaps were turned on to the nose from the cheek, and later from the forehead.Some attempts also at plastic work about the ears were made.The operation was probably quite commonly performed, for ears and noses were amputated in those days as a punishment for crime.There seems to have ex- isted among the Brahmins a certain caste, the Koomas, or potters, which considered the repair of mutilated features its especial province.Be- in 1867.Moreover, Frank Hamilton, of New- York, had practiced, as early as 1854, the covering of ulcers of considerable size by marginal growth from a small pediculated flap.Reverdin had independently arrived at a simple and dependable method of hastening the healing