LECTURE VI. 



Delivered September 13, 1876. 



ON SUBCUTANEOUS SURGERY : ITS PRINCIPLES, AND ITS RECENT 

 EXTENSION IN PRACTICE. 



By William Adams, M.D., F.R.C.S. 



Gentlemen : Before commencing the subject-matter of the 

 present address, I feel it to be my first duty, and one which 

 I have the greatest pleasure in performing, to acknowledge 

 the honor conferred upon me by an invitation to deliver in this 

 city an address under the auspices of the trustees of the Toner 

 fund ; an endowment which one of your most distinguished 

 physicians, Dr. Toner, was prompted by a noble spirit to 

 make for the benefit of mankind, by encouraging eflbrts for 

 the advancement of medical science. 



The only hesitation which I felt in accepting an invitation, 

 at once so honorable and gratifying to myself, was that I 

 might not be able worthily to fulfil its requirements, and I 

 could hardly hope to offer you an address sufl3ciently attractive 

 in the novelty of its subject-matter. However, trusting to the 

 indulgence of my audience, I will proceed to offer some 

 observations on a subject which has for many years engaged 

 my attention, viz., the principles and recent extension in 

 practice of subcutaneous surgery. 



There are a considerable number of surgical operations 

 which owe their immunit}'- from inflammation, and absolute 

 freedom from danger, to the fact of their being performed in 

 such a manner as effectually to exclude the admission of air. 

 These operations are performed by puncture instead of ex- 

 ternal incision, a very uarrow-bladed knife being used, for most 

 ^ (1) 



