In very slight cases of erectile tumour, or in nævus threatening to assume an aneurismal action, cold and pressure are sometimes, though very rarely indeed, sufficient for the prevention or removal of the disease. The most effectual remedy is excision, though this can very rarely indeed be had recourse to with safety; for when the disease is extensive, the vessels in its neighbourhood are much enlarged, and their action increased; so that any attempt to remove the tumour by the knife is followed by profuse, and often an uncontrollable, flow of blood. When excision is practicable, it ought to be accomplished by cutting very clear of the disease; the tumour, like every other, must be cut out, not cut into. If the incisions encroach on the substance of the tumour, or are made in the immediate neighbourhood of the diseased part, the tremendous bleeding which invariably ensues will convince the practitioner of the impropriety of his conduct, and rashness of the proceeding. Attempts have been made to arrest the progress of the diseased action, by tying the principal arterial trunks entering the tumour; but these have proved ineffectual, as might be expected, considering the unusually free and numerous inosculations which then exist. In a few instances, ligature of the carotid artery, on the same side with a tumour on the face or head, has put a stop to the disease; in the others, it has been unavailing. When the tumour is so situated, or of such a size, as to render the expediency of excision doubtful, it may often be safely and expeditiously removed by ligature. In some cases the tumour is prominent, so that it readily allows of the application of a ligature around its base; in others, it is flat and broad; in which case, a long needle, or needles, armed with a double ligature, can be passed beneath it, and the ligatures can then be separated, and so disposed as to cause sufficient constriction of the entire mass.—Vide _Practical Surgery_, p. 331, 336. In many cases, incisions may be made with great advantage, either before or after introducing the ligatures; the diseased mass is thus more effectually included and strangled, and much pain and deformity are avoided. The disease, however, occasionally occupies such situations as are totally beyond reach. The application of potass has been recommended; and this caustic is certainly sufficiently powerful to destroy the diseased parts; but its use is attended with danger from profuse hemorrhage. Superficial nævi may occasionally be got rid of by the application of nitric acid, but it requires to be applied over and over again; and, after all, some more effectual means must probably be resorted to. Stimulating injections into the substance of the growth have been sometimes employed. Cures, it is said, have followed the use of setons, or the repeated puncturing and breaking up of the tissue with a needle. None of these means are to be depended upon. The cases are innumerable in which I have been