INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 



Until recent years operations involving the interior of the abdomen 

 have been considered to be accompanied by the gravest rislis, and the 

 percentage of fatalities used, indeed, to justify this assumption. Nowa- 

 days, however, thanks to the researches of Pasteur and their adaptation 

 by Lister to modern surgery, the introduction of antiseptic methods 

 have altered all that, and the surgery of the abdomen has taken its 

 proper place with that of any other part of the body. 



It is not to be inferred that an abdominal operation should be 

 lightly undertaken, as of course it will always figure as a major one, 

 but the results of present-day work show that, with careful manipula- 

 tion and strict attention to true surgical cleanliness, the proportion of 

 successful sequelae are quite as great as with any other operation of 

 importance. 



Cryptorchid operating is to a certam extent very much like the 

 " lucky bag " competition of a bazaar. Even the most experienced 

 surgeon cannot always tell, before making an exploratory examination, 

 what is in front of him, the exact site in which he will find the testicle 

 (he may not be able to find one at all), or the abnormal condition of 

 that organ when found. 



Ovariotomy of the mare is much more straightforward, for the reason 

 that variations in character and position are much less common than 

 those which occur in the testicle of the cryptorchid horse. 



