INGUINAL hernia is one of the unsolved problems of surgery. This disability has troubled persons of every climate, race and color from time immemorial. For many centuries it has engaged the attention of men of science and art, as well as charlatans; a Phoenician statuette showing a double inguinal hernia has been unearthed. It has been estimated that hernias of all varieties occur in from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of the population.
A hernia was not usually meddled with until the subject began to suffer greatly or was incapacitated because of the size of the hernia, incarceration or strangulation. Then the services of the medical man, priest or sorcerer was sought. Since hernia was considered to be a visitation of the gods by some, incantation or prayer was practiced. The physicians of the day, being ignorant of the cause of the malady and knowing little about the anatomic structures and imperfections