The science of human duty simply demands that you be honest to yourselves, honest to those you serve; that you may look every man squarely in the face and not as if you feared he had heard something you had said behind his back. May I quote to you the words of the Earl of St. Vincent to the immortal Nelson: "It is given to us all to deserve success; mortals cannot command it." THE STUDY OF RECTAL SURGERY IN NEW YORK CITY. BY J. DAWSON REEDER, M. D., _Lecturer on Osteology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Md._ Having decided to take a course in Rectal Surgery, I arrived in New York and matriculated at the New York Polyclinic Hospital on October 1st for a course of instructions under Prof. James P. Tuttle, and desire to herewith describe briefly my reception: Professor Tuttle is a finished surgeon of the old school of gentlemen, a master of his art, and, under all conditions and circumstances, adheres strictly to the ethics of the profession. I was not only most cordially received by him socially, but was most fortunate in being honored by requesting me to assist him, or be present, on operations upon his private patients at an uptown hospital. This unexpected and friendly honor gave me an opportunity to observe closely the work of this great surgeon in detail, and I had the pleasure of witnessing every case under his care during my three months' visit. As to his colossal work on cancer of the rectum and sigmoid, his results are too well known for me to dwell upon at this time, and he has an enviable record which makes him the authority of this distressing malady which is so prevalent in the cases referred to the Rectal surgeon, and have so long been unrecognized by the general profession. I had the pleasure of witnessing him extirpate the rectum by his bone-flap and perineal route, and in some of these cases was honored by being his assistant. As to the method and technique in each of the above mentioned, I will endeavor to give later. Another very important point gained by association with this surgeon was, that my own theory as to the merits of the Whitehead operation were simply an endorsement of his teachings, namely, that this particular operation, while classical, was only justifiable in selected cases of hemorrhoids, while the Clamp and Cautery or the Ligature method had no restrictions as to variety or location of the pile mass.