PREFACE. 



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 Operation.s-Cursus with such changes, 

 omissions and additions as were deemed desirable. Three 

 years of constant use, with such criticisms as have come to 

 the author from others, have served to point out desirable 

 changes of .so sweeping a character as to demand a practi- 

 cally new treatise and to render the continuance of a formal 

 joint authorship inexpedient. The author has drawn freely 

 upon Dr. Pfeiffer's Operations- Cursus in the preparation of 

 the text which in many chapters is practically copied there- 

 from, including the illustrations, and gratefully acknowl- 

 edges his profound obligations thereto. On the other hand 

 nothing has been copied or extracted except it could be freely 

 adopted as the author's own view, releasing, Dr. Pfeiffer 

 from all responsibility for the character of any of the con- 

 tents. 



The volume i.s primarily designed for the use of the auth- 

 or's clas.ses 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 nece.ssarily 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 

 range and is designed to give to the student as thorough 

 training as is practicable in a laboratory course and includes 

 well nigh all the more important varieties of confinement, 

 anaesthesia, disinfection, sutures, bandaging, dressing and 

 other adjuncts to operative work. The chapter on trephin- 



