The choice of route for hysterectomy must be selected for each case. It is my desire to present a concise résumé of the reasons for each, and the advantages they offer in the cases to which they are applicable.
The views laid down are those of the general surgeon, and are based on an experience in this work that justifies, I think, an opinion. It has been claimed that vaginal hysterectomy is an operation that requires special training and attention to detail and technique which can only be acquired by the specialist. I can not, however, allow this statement to go unchallenged, for I believe that the general surgeon, with his larger field and constant application to detailed technique, is equally well, if not better, equipped to perform every operation of gynecology than is the specialist himself.
Who to-day, but in exceptional instances, would dream of amputating a carcinomatous mammary