While fully appreciating the distinction conferred on me by your call to read a paper before this meeting on the present state of thoracic surgery, I realize that the prescribed time limit demands a concise handling of this subject. My assistant, Dr. Sauerbruch, was enabled to tell you last year at Chicago of his own ingenious studies and experiences, so that I can briefly dismiss the details of the method of operating under positive and negative pressure.
The surgery of the lung and the heart, as well as of the mediastinum, the diaphragm and the esophagus, are entitled to the greatest interest and attention, the outcome being governed by the manner of surgical interference. All these fields accordingly become criteria of eminent rank for the quality of our technic.
Surgical intervention on the affections of the lung may be classified under four different headings:
I. Intrapulmonary interference with diseased