Twenty-four hours before the operation purgation should be begun by the administration of 1 dram of Rochelle salts, dissolved in half a tumblerful of water or soda-water, every hour until the bowels begin to move freely. Five or six doses are usually sufficient. The lower bowel should finally be emptied thoroughly by an enema of soap and water administered three or four hours before operation. During the twenty-four hours preceding operation the diet should consist of light, easily digested, concentrated nourishment, such as milk, buttermilk, soft-boiled eggs, rare beef, soups, beef-tea, coffee, tea, and whiskey if necessary. Unless the patient is very weak, no food should be given on the morning of the operation. If her condition does not warrant such abstinence, she may have a glass of milk, buttermilk, coffee, or milk-punch. Such food is required if the operation is performed late in the day. In very feeble patients a nutrient enema may be administered about two hours before the operation. A hypodermic injection of 1/20 grain of strychnine is often useful upon the morning of the operation when the patient is in poor condition. _Preparation of the External Genitals and Vagina._--The pubis and the external genitals should be shaved. The woman should be drawn down to the edge of the bed, and the anus, the external genitals, and the vagina should be scrubbed with green soap. The vagina should be washed throughout. The nurse may do this by inserting one or two fingers, or she may retract the perineum with the Sims speculum, and scrub the vagina, the fornices, and the vaginal cervix with cotton held in forceps. The scrubbing should be followed by a vaginal douche of a gallon of hot water to wash out the soap, and then by a douche of two quarts of bichloride solution (1:2000). One hour before operation the vaginal douche of bichloride should be repeated, and the nurse should introduce in the vagina as far as the cervix a light vaginal tampon of gauze wet with the bichlorid solution. In every abdominal operation on women it is desirable that the external genitals and the vagina should be clean. It may be necessary to pass the catheter or to perform some vaginal manipulation, or the vagina may be opened during the operation.