Excerpt from Introduction to the Differential Diagnosis of the Separate Forms of Gallstone Disease: Based Upon His Own Experience Gained in 433 Laparotomies for Gallstones The translator has, from the time of Tait's first operation, had a decided interest in gallstone surgery, which was increased by some personal operations in that field. It was his painful experience to himself develop gallstone disease, which plagued him several years, and caused a still more lively interest in the treatment of cholelithiasis, especially the various operations for its relief. The tortures became so severe and the attacks so frequent that his professional work was done only under the greatest exercise of will power, and he was constantly pursued by the fear of morphinism or a break-down in middle life. In November, 1889, he underwent a cholecystostomy at the hands of Mr. Lawson Tait, with a complete restoration to health. Since then he has frequently advised operation for gallstone disease, and has himself in all done 30 operations, with 2 deaths. This includes 5 cases of stones in the common duct, 2 lithotripsies and 3 choledochotomies, which have all recovered. Gallstone surgery has not received in America the acceptation which it deserves. Not but that in McBumey, Richardson and others we have as good operators as exist anywhere, but because the large majority of the profession still cherish the delusion that gallstones can be dissolved, and regard at best operations for gallstone disease as a last resort. The works accessible to the general practitioner are written either from the standpoint of the internist, who still believes operation to be a last resort, or from the standpoint of the operating surgeon who devotes more attention to the technique of the different operations than to the diagnosis of the various forms of gallstone disease. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."