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Prior to any operation, it is important that the patient be given a description of the disease, its prognosis and the treatment to be employed. The patient's obligations in respect to the part which he is to play in the course of treatment should be outlined. He should be informed of the probable length of his stay in the hospital and of the amount of time to be spent under the physician's care after dismissal from the hospital. The gravity of his problem should not be minimized. A fissure may appear trivial to every one except the person who is its host. To him it presents a grave problem, and a physician makes a serious mistake when he tells such a patient that hospitalization is unnecessary and that the problem is simple. Often the physician and the patient are both disillusioned later, when it is found that after some simple