The time lias passed in which the surgeon may rest content to act on a diagnosis already made for him, leaving with his medical confreres the onus in case of error; for he cannot shirk the responsibility of operative interference should such be found necessary. He must therefore go over the whole of the medical evidence and be prepared to supplement it by surgical methods, should such be desirable to elucidate the case.

A general and a special inquiry are necessary in every case; the former involving the question of age, sex, occupation, habits, and the mental, moral, and physical conditions, together with the history of the patient and the disease ; the latter including all that can be ascertained by a physical examination. AVhile the general inquiry must never be neglected, this chapter will be devoted to special diagnostic methods available in gastric disease.