Thoracic Surgery. The Surgical Treatment of Thoracic Disease

come. The author possesses a charming facility of expression which is only surpassed by his innate modesty. The first chapter deals with general considerations pertinent not only to this branch but to other branches of surgery as well. The author states that the pleura is unaffected by contact with unfiltered air but that if it is exposed at operation for more than thirty minutes it pours out a serous effusion in the immediate postoperative period. In aspirating the pleural cavity for diagnostic purposes the lung must not be punctured through a closed thorax; therefore, if abscess of the lung be suspected, one should never aspirate except on the operating table preparatory to thoracotomy, as the author has seen fatal gangrenous phlegmon of the chest wall result on several occasions from infection of the tissue planes on withdrawing the infected aspirating needle. The pus from lung abscesses has a foetid smell and if one should withdraw pus on aspiration which possesses