X INTRODUCTION. 



glands, shall become thoroughly disinfected, a process well 

 nigh impossible in a short period. 



The suturing, dressing and bandaging of the wound 

 should be carried out carefully in every case and no opera- 

 tion left without completing it in the best manner possible. 



The student should make each operation as real as possible 

 and not omit any detail, even if he thinks he already knows 

 it sufficiently well, as the repetition of a supposedly familiar 

 detail serves an important purpose in the fixing of a habit 

 which is inestimably more valuable to the surgeon than any 

 theoretical knowledge of technic. 



The safe surgeon is he who has so accustomed himself to 

 the technic of asepsis and antisepsis that he carries them 

 out rigidly in an automatic manner and can leave his atten- 

 tion riveted on the surgical problems before him. 



The student who consults his interests will go yet farther 

 and prior to undertaking any operation on the living subject 

 will study the regional anatomy of the part on the cadaver 

 and learn therefrom all that he can of the structure of the 

 part which he must finally complete upon the living animal. 

 No dissection of the cadaver can ever teach true surgical 

 structure as the dead tissues can not be like the living, but 

 such dissection can and does give great aid and should be 

 pursued as far as it can lead and enough will still remain to 

 be learned on the living subject. 



He should further take occasion to study in connection 

 with each operation the object or objects for which it is 

 performed in practice, its effect on the diseased or other 

 parts, the untoward results to be anticipated, etc. 



Suggestions occur from time to time in the text designed 

 to aid the student in these lines and help weave connecting 

 bands between the operation, its objects and results. 



Surgical operations are in themselves valueless or worse 

 and acquire value only when properly correlated to disease 

 and skillfully performed. 



