To the Editor:—
One sentence in the editorial which might have been more understandingly presented was the statement (207:1343, 1969), "Although Tagliacozzi mentions the possibility of heterologous skin transplants, he found it more practical to select the skin from the patient's own body." If, after practical, the words "because of the difficulty in keeping two individuals attached to each other for the requisite length of time" were inserted, this would have given the reason more clearly. Tagliacozzi explains this in book 1, chapter 18, page 59 of his De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem (concerning the surgery of deformities by transplantation), Venice, 1597.In the final paragraph of the editorial, a quotation said to be taken from "the first chapter of Tagliacozzi's treatise," really appears in the epilogue of Mrs. Gnudi's and my book, The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi, Surgeon of Bologna, 1545-1599, page 331, first paragraph, which