On the Use of the Rectum in Operations for Lithotomy

more fingers in the rectum of the patient is often of the greatest assistance to the operator, and facilitates the introduction of instruments and the extraction of the calculus. The advantage of an exploration of the rectum is not mentioned in Fergusson's Practical Surgery at all, and Druitt's Surgeon's Vade-Mecum only says :?"The left fore-finger should be passed into the rectum just before operating, to ascertain the size of the prostate and its depth from the surface. This exploration further makes the rectum contract to the smallest bulk." Miller in his Practice of Surgery simply says :?"The Surgeon introduces his left fore-finger into the rectum to make sure of its being empty, and to stimulate it to contraction.'> And even Sir Henry Thomson in his book on Practical