The first successful amputation of the hip-joint was performed by Brashear in 1806 at Bardstown, Kentucky; he first amputated the thigh through its middle third, and tied off the bleeding vessels; then he made a long incision on the outside of the limb, exposing the remainder of the bone, which was disarticulated at its socket. This article is part of a study on surgery in Kentucky authored by Samuel D. Gross, who wrote that Brashear was “alternately or successively, doctor, merchant, legislator, lawyer, and naturalist. For some years he served his adopted State in the Senate of the United States”. See No. 4451.1.