The deliberate and confident manner and word of the surgeon go a long way in guiding the feelings of his patient, and a worried or apprehensive surgeon makes for a doubtful and sensitive patient, ready to cry out at the first prick of the needle. Therefore it is a part of good general technic for the surgeon to deport himself in a way conducive to cheerfulness, and conversation must be guided along these lines. There are many who will writhe and groan at sensations (which they will admit later were not painful) incident to local anesthesia, such as the grating vibrations of instrumentation. Such a patient is not well fitted for the method and it is for the discerning surgeon to recognize such in advance, that he may operate under the most favorable circumstances. +Preparation of the Patient.+ Proper evacuation of the bowels and a stomach free of undigested parts of a previous meal, are desirable. The subject of an anesthetic should not be purged or starved as these are weakening processes and also disturb the tranquility so essential to a perfect anesthesia. The skin should be prepared so as to accomplish surgical cleanliness without irritating it so as to retard healing. It was once thought that soap, water, alcohol, ether and bichloride were absolutely necessary to this end. It has, however, been found that iodin, applied in the ten per cent. tincture to the site of incision, fulfills every requirement. Where shaving is necessary, it should be done first. In operations about the anus and scrotum, iodin is contraindicated because of its irritating properties; it is painful in these parts and dermatitis is frequently the result of its use. +Instruments.+ The instruments should be prepared and ready before the anesthetic is given, regardless of the form of anesthesia employed. The surgeon’s hands should be rendered aseptic, no matter how trivial the procedure before him, and every precaution should be taken to guard against infection, which is always possible in any surgical procedure however insignificant. +Technic.+ Various methods of accomplishing the insensitization of a part may be employed. Thus, if the skin alone is to be incised, it alone will require injection and by careful insertion of the end of the needle it may be kept just under the epidermis, thus injecting the anesthetic endermatically in and about the papillae of the papillary layer.