EXPERIMENTATION AND SURGERY 



portion of the wounds through the whole year 

 in which it is used. For immunization, the an- 

 titoxin now employed seems infallible, tetanus 

 never occurring in a patient receiving it. 



Many surgical operations are essentially 

 experimental. In the absence of positive 

 knowledge of obscure internal conditions, the 

 surgeon exposes the seat of the supposed dis- 

 ease. (These are called "exploratory opera- 

 tions," and represent what surgeons know to 

 be a large class.) Much abdominal surgery is 

 even yet experimental. For example, in can- 

 cer of the stomach, if the disease has developed 

 far enough for a positive diagnosis to be made, 

 it has gone too far to be curable. It is in the 

 early stage, when its symptoms are but slight 

 and obscure, that a curative operation can be 

 done. Practically all operations for this dis- 

 ease which are curative are exploratory opera- 

 tions, prompted by but a suspicion that the 

 disease may be found.* 



*If the disease is not found, no harm is done; if it is found, 

 a life may be saved. One of the reproaches to medicine is that 

 almost invariably the disease is found to exist when exploratory 

 operation is done for it. That means that in most cases there 

 has been a strong suspicion of cancer to have prompted opera- 

 tion, and in the present state of knowledge there can not be 

 a strong suspicion unless the disease is well advanced. It 

 would be more to the credit of medicine if more cases should 

 be operated upon when the signs are so slight that exploration 



129 



Operations 

 essential- 

 ly experi- 

 mental. 



