PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



The author caused to be published in 1900 a booklet 

 entitled : " A Course in Surgical Operations by W. Pfeiffer 

 and W. L. Williams," consisting of an authorized transla- 

 tion of Dr. Pfeiffer's Operating-Cursus with such changes, 

 additions and omissions as were deemed desirable. Three 

 years of constant use, with such criticisms as came to the 

 author from others, served to point out desirable changes 

 of so sweeping a character as to demand a practically new 

 treatise specially adapted to American conditions, and to 

 render the continuance of a formal joint authorship inex- 

 pedient and in 1903 the author published a more extended 

 volume under the present title, followed by a large second 

 edition in 1906. In this third edition the author has con- 

 tinued to draw freely upon Dr. Pfeiffer's Operations-Cursus 

 in the preparation of the text which in many chapters is 

 practically copied therefrom, including the illustrations with 

 grateful acknowledgement of his profound obligations. On 

 the other hand nothing has been copied or extracted except 

 it could be freely adopted as the author's own view, releas- 

 ing Dr. Pleiffer from all responsibility for the character 

 of .any of the contents. 



The volume is primarily designed for the use of the au- 

 thor's classes in laboratory surgery and embryotomy in which 

 the student performs the surgical operations described, on 

 animals procured for the express purpose, under chloroform 

 anaesthesia whenever possible, after which the subject is 

 destroyed while still anaesthetized ; at the same time it has 

 been aimed to render the volume of the greatest possible 

 value to the practitioner consistent with this plan. The 

 operations included under this scheme are necessarily limited 

 to those which can be reasonably well performed on com- 

 paratively sound animals of little value and regularly pro- 

 curable for laboratory purpo.ses. The list covers a wide 



