Use of the Rectum in Operations for Lithotomy

staff. 2nd. The author advises operators never to insert the finger into the rectum during the first or later incisions : this is surely most superfluous advice ; for who would dream of putting his finger into the rectum while making the deep incisions, the same finger being required in the wound to protect the rectum and to keep the point of the knife in the groove of the staff : all authorities on the subject are most emphatic about the introduction of the left index finger into the wound so soon as the