The question of removal of a kidney for pyo-nephrosis is less likely to arise in this form than the other, since from its causation it is much more likely to be bilateral; but if under any peculiarity of anatomical arrangement, such as greater dilatation of the one ureter, it should be found that one kidney was nearly healthy while the other was in a state of pyelitis, and purulent inflammation was giving rise to serious constitutional disturbance, such an operation might be undertaken. The operation of nephrectomy, or removal of the kidney, may be required for various lesions, most of which include more or less pyelitis, and it may be considered once for all in this place. It has now been practised more than one hundred times. A table including 100 cases is given by R. P. Harris in the _American Journal of the Medical Sciences_ for July, 1882, and many have been recorded since.[21] It can, of course, hardly be expected that the removal of one of a pair of vital organs, under circumstances where it is often the case that the other is not {56} completely capable of carrying on the additional work, should present the same favorable array of statistics as ovariotomy; but it gives no small number of recoveries in cases which without it would undoubtedly have proved fatal, and it must be considered as having a legitimate and well-defined place among the major operations. [Footnote 21: Weir, _New York Med. Journ._, Dec. 27, 1884.] There are two distinct methods, besides, of course, all the minor differences of detail called for in the individual case. The kidney may be reached from the loin by an incision along the outer edge of the erector spinæ, as already described for nephrotomy. It is to be enucleated from its capsule of fat by the fingers, and a ligature or ligatures passed around the pedicle consisting of the veins, arteries, and ureter. The kidney is then cut off, possibly leaving a little renal substance if the pedicle be short and accessible with difficulty. The wound is left partly open for drainage. This method has the advantage of avoiding the peritoneum and the handling of other abdominal organs. Its disadvantages are, in some cases, the want of room, and when undertaken for the relief of floating kidney the difficulty of finding the organ, which is likely to be at the end of a pouch formed of peritoneum. In cases of calculous pyelitis, where it may be at the beginning of the operation uncertain whether merely an incision for the removal of a stone or a total removal of a kidney of normal size may be necessary, this line of approach presents decided advantages.