Henri-François Le, a celebrated French surgeon, born at Paris in 1685, was the son of a surgeon of the same name, who, while serving with the army, had been distinguished for practical dexterity in the treatment of gunshot wounds. Young Le Dran entered on the surgical career under the auspices and direction of his father, and early attained to eminence in his profession. He became surgeon-major and demonstrator of anatomy at La Charité, member of the royal academy of surgery, consulting surgeon of the camps and armies of the king, and associate of the Royal Society of London. Apart from his professional Drawing, pursuits, almost no particulars of his life have been preserved. He died at Paris on the 17th October 1770, at the advanced age of eighty-five. Le Dran was the author of a variety of works on surgery, of which we shall here subjoin a very brief account. 1. *Parallèle des différentes manières de tirer la Pierre hors de la Vessie*, Paris, 1730, 1740, 8vo, with plates; translated into German, Berlin, 1737, 8vo, and into English, London, 1738, 8vo. Le Dran, in this work, condemns the small, and shows himself a partisan of the large apparatus; recommending, however, that the incision should be made a little lower than Collot had been accustomed to make it, and that it should be of an extent sufficient to prevent the dilaceration of the bladder. He approves of the high operation only in the case where the bladder is sound and the calculus very voluminous. In order to obviate the too frequent lesion of the rectum in using the staff described by Albinius for the lateral operation of Rau, Le Dran invented a new staff, which enabled him to avoid such a casualty, and contributed materially to his success. 2. *Observations de Chirurgie, auxquelles on a joint plusieurs Réflexions en faveur des Étudiants*, Paris, 1731, 2 vols. 12mo; translated into German, Nuremberg, 1738, 8vo; and into English, 1739, 8vo. This collection is rich in facts well chosen, and reported with candour and precision. The author does not dissemble his faults, and speaks of his success without ostentation. 3. *Traité des opérations de Chirurgie*, Paris, 1731 and 1742, 8vo; London, 1749, 8vo, with additions by Cheselden. This work, in which the author ascribes an imaginary influence to the animal spirits, is nevertheless valuable, as containing an accurate description of a great number of operations, and many practical facts alike curious and interesting. If a new method is spoken of, he never fails to indicate the author of the discovery. 4. *Réflexions pratiques sur les plaies d'armer à feu*, Paris, 1737, 1740, 1759, 12mo; Amsterdam, 1745, 12mo; Nuremberg, in German, 1740, 8vo. To the excellent precepts of Ambroise Paré, the author has here added the fruits of his own experience; and he has contributed to check in some cases the use, then too exclusive, of the seton. He has also advocated the method of large incisions, and justly proscribed the application of sinclors or pledgets of linen soaked with brandy, in the first dressing of gunshot wounds. 5. *Suite du Parallèle de la Taille*, Paris, 1756, 8vo. 6. *Consultations sur la plupart des Maladies qui sont du ressort de la Chirurgie*, Paris, 1765, 8vo. 7. *Traité économique de l'Anatomie du corps humain*, Paris, 1768, 12mo. This work is full of superannuated hypotheses and material omissions. 8. *Récit d'une guérison singulière du plomb fondu dans la Vessie*, and *Lettre sur la dissolution du plomb dans cet organe*, Paris, 1749. Here Le Dran gives an account of his experiments for dissolving lead by means of mercury, and evinces great credulity in attributing to mercury certain imaginary qualities. Besides the works above enumerated, a great number of interesting observations by Le Dran may be found in the *Mémoires* of the Academy.