For accomplishing the best results, the needles must also be selected for the work at hand. For the initial puncture in sensitive or inflamed tissue, it is proper to use a needle of the finest lumen so as to cause the least possible amount of pain. The ordinary needle, which comes with the usual hypodermic outfit, is about the proper length for the ordinary work already mentioned, but could be improved upon for anesthesia by being made a little finer in calibre. This length (three-quarters of an inch) will be frequently found insufficient to reach the deeper tissues and in the removal of a more or less rounded growth, a longer needle must be selected at the start. Curved or angular ones are only needed in dentistry, where strength is also a consideration. Strength is afforded in those of short length by means of a reinforcement at the hub. Needles so augmented may also be of use in operations upon bone or dense structures in general; the curve, however, is not essential. The surgeon should be fully conversant with the details of the operation which he is about to perform. His work should be definitely in his mind, for in operations under local anesthesia, there is no justification for a change of procedure after the beginning of the work. Account should be taken of the nature of the tissues to be anesthetized, for it is known that cicatricial tissues and inflammatory areas do not lend themselves to the action of these drugs. In a cicatrix, the diffusibility of the solution is impeded, and in an inflammatory or necrotic tissue, the changes in the quantity and quality of the fluids present, alter the action of the anesthetic. In considering the personal element of the patient one meets a difficulty which is by no means minor, and full explanation for the selection of the local anesthetic with many assurances of the painlessness of the operation are frequently necessary. This is especially true with one of highly emotional temperament, and, to allay fear in such a patient is not always easy. Whatever may be said regarding the mental state of the patient who is to receive an anesthetic, whether general or local, the surgeon must remember that to be calm does not always lie within the control of his subject, and it will be found that a hypodermic injection of morphine (gr. one-eighth to one-quarter) an hour before the start of the anesthetic, will often render possible the use of the injection method in a patient with whom it would otherwise have been impossible. Morphine injections, as suggested, are of advantage in patients on whom a major operation is contemplated; they loosen the musculature and diminish the sensations of parts not anesthetized.