SURGICAL BACTERIOLOGY. 



INTKODUCTION. 



THE recent advances in surgical pathology laid the foundation 

 for the wonderful achievements of modern surgery. In propor- 

 tion as our knowledge of the etiology and pathology of the different 

 surgical lesions approaches perfection, will surgery assume the 

 dignity of an exact science and a true art. The future progress in 

 surgery will be characterized by original research in the elucida- 

 tion of as yet obscure etiological and pathological questions. If 

 the nature of a disease is well understood, rational suggestions as 

 to proper treatment will follow as a natural consequence. During 

 the last fifteen years there has been more real advance made in 

 surgical pathology than during twenty centuries preceding them. 

 Bacteriology opened a new era for surgical pathology. The knowl- 

 edge which has accumulated from the bacteriological investigations 

 of disease has opened new fields of usefulness for the surgeon. 

 Many diseases heretofore uselessly treated with drugs by the phy- 

 sician are now successfully treated by surgical measures. 



At this time, surgical pathology has almost become synonymous 

 with surgical bacteriology. Text-books on surgical pathology of 

 only a few years ago are consulted in vain for information on 

 many subjects which now attract universal attention. Owing to 

 the activity which is manifested everywhere in the investigation 

 of the microbic cause of disease, the many discoveries which are 

 being made in rapid succession, works on pathology soon become 

 old, and are consigned to the shelves of the antiquarian almost 

 before they have left the press. The author of one of the best 

 text-books on general pathology found it necessary to prepare a 

 lengthy appendix while the book was going through the press, in 

 order to escape the criticism of the reviewer that it did not repre- 

 sent modern ideas. We live in an age of independent thought 

 and investigation. No discovery is accepted unchallenged, and all 

 new claims are subjected to the crucial test of criticism based on 

 original research. Reputation no longer carries with it the weight 



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