The evidence that the question under discussion is many-sided is shown by the different titles which the distinguished specialists have chosen who are announced to furnish, to-day, contributions upon the medico-legal aspects of abdominal surgery. I have selected a very minor subdivision of the topic, to which I propose to confine my remarks, to wit: namely, the opinions which the great body politic of the profession hold in relation to the justifiability of abdominal operations in general, and the influence which such opinions exert, as commonly expressed in everyday practice.
Twenty years have elapsed since I became a special student of abdominal surgery. Leaders of the profession at that time in New England, without doubt with the most disinterested motives, earnestly gave me warning that if I allowed myself to be known as having special interest in this department of professional work, as viewed from the surgical aspect, it would