Thoracotomy can at best be but a palliative proce¬ dure. By supplying drainage of the cavities, it diverts their secretion from the upper respiratory tract, thus, to some extent, shielding uninvolved portions of the lung from infection. It may produce a distinct improvement in the condition of the patient. A knowledge of the pathology of lung suppuration teaches us, however, that the only hope of complete cure rests in a complete removal of the infiltrated lung. This, no drainage operation can

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... ccomplish. Unfor¬ tunately, lung resection is an operation fraught with the greatest difficulties ; it demands the highest surgical skill, and the operative indications in the individual case are extremely narrow. They may thus be formu¬ lated : The patients must be young : the operation in those who have reached the age of 40 has a prohibi¬ tive mortality. The case must be uncomplicated, that is, the pleural cavity must be free of dense adhesions so that the lobectomy may be expeditiously performed. Operations which last much over an hour result in a high mortality. The disease must be unilateral. When the operation has been successfully performed, the' patient is completely cured; and surgery records no more brilliant or dramatic achievement than the resto¬ ration to health of a person afflicted with this most