A condition which has been before the medical profession for many years, especially since the inception of modern surgery and modern surgical technic—a condition which is becoming more frequent with the ever-increasing number of abdominal and pelvic operations—a condition about which much has been written but concerning which little is known definitely, is the subject I wish to bring to the attention of this Section to-day. I refer to thrombosis and embolism.
The importance of this subject is at once apparent when we consider the great rôle played by thrombosis and embolism in raising the mortality in our surgical cases. Besides the mortality, the morbidity caused by these conditions is no small matter. Many are the cases of pulmonary, renal, and hepatic abscesses, not infrequent the cases of gangrene of extremities, necessitating amputation, that had their origin in thrombotic or embolic processes. Arteriosclerosis, a disease that in the course of