Publisher's Synopsis
Within the last three decades the diagnosis and treatment of bowel troubles have been greatly changed through improved instruments, technique, hygienic measures, and various remedial agents. The domain of surgery of the anus, rectum, etc., has been surprisingly limited, and that of gastro-intestinal hygiene enlarged, together with knowledge of man's assimilative and eliminative organs. Systemic and local hygiene has supplanted drugs and surgery in the treatment of diseases of the anus, rectum, sigmoid flexure, and vermiform appendix. Indeed, the domain of surgery will be restricted to what are still considered incurable diseases if the suggestions of this volume are widely adopted. From a clinical experience extending over a period of thirty-three years, however, -as a specialist in diseases of the anus, rectum, and intestinal machinery generally, -the author feels warranted in maintaining that, if hygio-therapic measures were taken by both physicians and laymen, surgical clinics and hospitals for "operating" on anal and rectal diseases and the administering of countless medicinal remedies would enter the stage of therapeutic oblivion.
