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To the Editor:
—The editorial on the Pacific Coast Oto-Ophthalmological Society in the August issue of the Archives contained quite a mistake. Colonel Elliot did not smoke while operating. In fact, I think he did not smoke at all. I was present at the meeting in 1914 where he did 13 trephine operations, and I was well acquainted with him. Colonel Smith, who made a presentation at a subsequent meeting and who did the Smith operation for cataracts, is the one who got the reputation for smoking a cigar while doing an operation. I saw Colonel Smith do a series of cataract operations, during which time he never had a cigar in his mouth, but he did smoke a cigar while lecturing.