While some surgeons make ample incisions and a thorough examination as a matter of routine, there are many more who do not do so, and it is with a hope of being helpful to this latter class that this paper is written. The average surgeon is prone to do his abdominal work through too small an opening. He points with pride to an inch and a half scar after an appendectomy, and a two and a half inch scar after an operation for the relief of pathologic conditions in the pelvis.
We acquired this habit, first, because of our earlier experiences with ventral hernias, which were not uncommon in the practice of every operator, in which, naturally, the smaller the original opening the smaller the subsequent hernia. Then men with dextrous fingers vied with each other to see who could do his work through the smallest opening. With our improved