little more risk. The operation of Cesarean
section, or the Porro amputation of the pregnant womb, will
revolutionize the obstetric art, and in two years we shall hear no more
of craniotomy; for the improved method will save more lives, and is far
easier of performance. It is the easiest operation in abdominal surgery,
and every country practitioner ought to be able, and always prepared, to
do it.' So said Lawson Tait in 1888.

"I could quote many other authorities, showing the change that is taking
place in the profession upon this important question. It is established
by the consensus of professional opinion that craniotomy has been
frequently performed in cases where delivery could have been safely
accomplished by the forceps, turning, and even by the unaided power of
nature (Busey); and there is no case known to him where a woman, on whom
a section had been successfully performed, has refused to submit to its
repetition in subsequent pregnancies. In Belgium the Cesarean section
has been performed seven times on the same woman, and in Philadelphia
three times. Doctor Bretoneaux, of Tours, has performed it six times on
the same woman; and this woman his wife. 'The brutal epoch of craniotomy
has certainly passed. The legitimate aspiration and tendency of science
is to eliminate craniotomy on the living and viable child from obstetric
practice.'--Barnes' words as quoted by Busey. Tyler Smith is in perfect
accordance with Barnes. Barnes again writes: 'For the Cesarean section
two very powerful arguments may be advanced. First, that the child is
not sacrificed. Second, that the mother has a reasonable prospect of
being saved.'

"Late reports of the Dublin Rotunda Hospital show that, in 3,631 cases
of labor, craniotomy was performed only four times, and in three of
these, positive diagnosis of the child's death was ascertained before
the operation. In one of these cases the diagnosis was doubtful.

"More Madden, a celebrated obstetrician of forty years' experience,
never performed it once.

"'The brilliant achievements in abdominal surgery give assurance that
the Cesarean section is not only a legitimate operation, but one almost
free from danger; also, that the tragic scenes heretofore witnessed in
certain cases, in which the destruction of the child was resorted to,
may be relegated to history (A. P. Clarke).'"

Further on, Dr. Boisliniere speaks more directly of abortion. He says:

"The principle once admitted tha