The case in question was that of a young man, aged 27, who, while employed as a railroad brakeman, was injured Nov. 6, 1906, by a collision of the locomotive, on which he was riding, with a carload of logs. I saw the patient Dec. 4, 1906, twenty-eight days after the injury was received. During this time the patient had been treated by the company physician, with occasional consultations with the family physician. He had been told that an amputation of the leg would be the only procedure. This was asked for by his physicians on several different occasions, but was refused by both the patient's father and the patient himself. After a careful examination I found that a compound comminuted fracture of both bones existed at about the junction of the lower with the middle third of the leg. The communication on the external side was from two and