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O. Oe. Professor, and Director of the Medical Clinic in Greifswald.
The principle of modern medicine is that of localization. All real progress made in our science is due to its tendency to local treatment. One by one the cavities of the body are brought within its reach. It will, of course, remain for accumulated clinical experience to decide how far we shall be permitted finally to carry the extension of local treatment. The responsibility of the surgeon has certainly become greater since the introduction of the antiseptic method. Many a difficult operation is now deemed admissible, nay, necessary, for the cure of even internal affections. The advanced practice of antiseptic surgery renders us, in many instances, also less sensible how narrowly our diagnostic knowledge is limited. An exploratory puncture or incision may be made with impunity, and a more accurate judgment thus formed of the nature of dubious cases.