The surgeon and ulcerative colitis.

We who study Nature and her behaviour are united as a brotherhood by our search for truth. The examinee studying for a higher degree can take comfort therefore in the thought that he is not compelled to learn man-made classifications or rules, which differ from textbook to textbook, but is judged at examination by what he knows of conditions occurring in living patients. The present article is based on:(i) The combined experience of my father and myself, including 24 cases where sub-total colectomy was performed for ulcerative colitis in recent years. (2) The clinical records of ioo consecutive patients treated at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (which had an average of approximately 420 occupied beds) between 1937 and 1942. (3) The collected mortality records of 34I cases of chronic ulcerative colitis treated at the three main public hospitals in Melbourne over a period of ten years to I942.