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Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1954;36:695-703.
© 1954 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc

RESPONSIBILITY AND RESEARCH IN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY

Alfred Rives Shands Jr. M.D.1

1 Wilmington, Delaware

Orthopaedic surgery of today has been left a great heritage by our forebears. It is our duty not only to preserve and to cherish but to enhance this proud inheritance. On the south portico of the Archives Building in Washington, there is a statue of a beautiful woman holding an infant against a background of stalks of ripened grain, under which appears the inscription, "The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future". The great orthopaedic surgeons of the nineteenth century and of the early part of the twentieth century were our forefathers who not only created this heritage but also planted this seed. The seed which was sown has borne fruit and has created "the harvest of the future", the orthopaedic surgery of 1954. We of this generation should be doing as our forefathers did for us; we should be "sowing the seed" to bring forth "the harvest of the future" for the oncoming generations. This should be done, as Willard has expressed it, ". . . in such a way that we may pass on to our successors a still more perfect inheritance of which both we and they may be very proud". This is perhaps our first and greatest responsibility. How we meet this responsibility will be determined by our vision. We must always remember the proverb, "Where there is no vision, the people perish". Upon our vision rests the future of orthopaedic surgery. We can only hope that our Creator may grant to all of us and to our line the strength, wisdom, and courage to carry steadfastly the torch of our proud heritage, and at all times to maintain a clear, bright, and unobstructed vision for the future.


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