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918. Mr. Solomon.] You could not, you say, get rid of all danger to the patient?— No. 919. The Chairman.'] With the appliances, such as they were ?—No. I could not absolutely get rid of the danger. 920. The instruments you used in this operation were whose ?—My own. 921. The same set of instruments that were used by you in your operations outside?—l used some of the same instruments in all the other operations outside. 922. And which you carefully attend to?—I will not use the hospital instruments for any complicated case ; lam afraid of them. I always take my own instruments down. 923. Does your experience in your private practice encourage any possibility that you could have carried germs about with you ?—-I think not. 924. Could you have had the results you had if you did ?—I do not see how I could. 925. In your opinion, is Mrs. Snowden's death consistent or inconsistent with the fact that before and after this operation, she was lying in an improper atmosphere for some days?—lt is consistent with the fact. 926. Do you require to go any further than that to seek the cause of death in her case ?—No. 927. I ask you again, was the impure atmosphere in which she was lying both before and after the operation sufficient to account for her death ? —I may speak positively about that. 928. But lam not asking you about the cause of her death. lam asking you if the condition of the atmosphere in which she was placed was sufficient to account for her death ?—Did you say after the operation ? 929. Before and after the operation : will the two do so?— Then I say " Yes." 930. Mr. Solomon.] Now, we will go to the next case—that of Mrs. T . When was she operated on ?—On Saturday morning, the 19th July. 931. For what ?—A small labial cyst. 932. Inside or outside of the vagina?— Outside the vagina; just at the entrance. Ib is a very simple incision. It is the cutting off of a little skin lining the cyst. 933. Is it a difficult or a simple operation ?—A very simple operation. 934. Did you perform that operation yourself?— Not entirely. Mr. Hogg, my surgical dresser, did the best part of it. 935. Is that an uncommon practice ?—No. It is the practice we always adopt. 936. In simple operations ?—Yes, we give our students all the assistance we can. 937. It was so simple an operation that you left it to a student ?—Yes. But I supervised it very carefully. 938. What instruments were used in that operation?— The student got his own. 939. By that you mean, I suppose, that the hospital instruments were used on this occasion ? —Yes. 940. Could one reasonably anticipate that, with ordinary surroundings, there should be any septic trouble there ? —No, he could not. 941. Is the part on which that operation was performed a likely or unlikely place to attract unhealthy germs from the atmosphere into the tissues ? —lt is very easily affected. 942. That is on account of the part being warm and moist ?—Yes. 943. The Chairman.] Though the place is favourable for the propogation of germs, you do not mean that it is specially attractive ?—No. 944. Mr. Solomon.] You say that there was nothing out of the way in this operation. Was it successful, or did anything go wrong during the operation itself ? —No; it was a very simple operation. 945. What was the next thing that you found ? —I operated on the Saturday, and I wont into the Hospital on Monday to see her. I took notice by the temperature chart on the day after her operation that her temperature in the morning was 101° and that in the evening it was 102°. On the Monday when I went in and saw her I found that the wound was suppurating throughout: that pus was coming out. 946. Was the woman in a safe or dangerous condition then?—ln a dangerous condition. 947. Was there anything in the original wound that would give any operator the slightest fear that the woman was in danger of her life?— No. Of course, if septic mischief arises there is danger. 948. You do not follow my question. In your ordinary experience as a surgeon, using the antiseptic treatment that you would use in such a case, and with hygienic conditions such as you might reasonably anticipate, should any person who had to undergo an operation of this sort anticipate the slightest danger to her life?— No. 949. I suppose if I were to cut my finger, and the wound were to suppurate and discharge pus, I might find myself in some degree of danger ?—I should think the amputation of your finger the severer operation of the two. 950. You do ?—Certainly. 951. You say that under ordinary circumstances in an operation of the kind not the slightest danger to life could be reasonably anticipated ?—lt could not. 952. And the same remark applies to the present case?— Yes. 953. Now, you have told us that nothing out of the way occurred, and that the operation was successful ?—lt was perfectly successful. 954. Yet two days afterwards you found the woman in a dangerous condition ? —Perhaps I spoke a little too hastily just now. It is a more severe operation than cutting off your finger, because there is a very free vascular supply. But no one would ever anticipate danger from such an operation. 955. What did you do on finding out this woman's condition ?—I had the woman placed under chloroform, the wound opened up, and thoroughly swabbed out with a strong solution of 7—H. 1.