Usually a bluish spot will appear, showing the situation of the infra-orbital nerve, covered with a thin plate of bone, in its canal in the floor of the orbit.

Should, however, there be any difficulty in locating the nerve it can easily be done by passing a probe into the infra-orbital foramen and up into the orbit.

Having located the nerve, with a chisel or any suitable instrument, crush the thin plate of bone covering it. The nerve can then be easily hooked up and brought to view.

The infra-orbital artery is usually torn at this time, and bleeds for a few moments, but it is of no importance, and will soon take care of itself.

Having hooked up the nerve, ligate it securely with a piece of silk passed around it with an aneurism needle. Then cut the nerve, leaving the ligature fastened to the proximal end of the cut nerve.

We now have the nerve under perfect control.

By making a slight traction on the ligature we can bring the nerve into view, and by following it on can readily crush down the thin wall of the canal and remove the fragments with suitable forceps.

When the nerve enters the spheno-maxillary fissure it passes out of the bony canal and is only surrounded by soft structures which can easily be hooked or wiped away.

Should the spheno-maxillary fissure be narrow, and not readily admit the introduction of instruments, it can easily be widened by inserting a suitable blunt instrument and by wedging or widening the walls.

It is remembered that the upper wall of this fissure is the strong wing of the sphenoid bone and that the lower angle is the thin wall of the antrum.

If either bone should break in these manipulations, it would be the wall of the antrum which would be crushed down and out of the way and would cause no trouble.

Having the nerve thus free to the foramen rotundum, next slip the ends of the silk ligature through a loop of wire, held with a small snare. The loop of wire in the snare is passed down the nerve to the foramen rotundum, just as a tunnel sound is passed over a filiform bougie. When the loop of wire reaches the foramen rotundum, the nerve is cut and removed.

To return now to the distal end of the nerve:

Separate the integument from the bone down to the infra-orbital foramen, gather up the mesh of nerves going to the cheek, with a hook, and drag the divided nerve through the foramen; then putting the nerve into the loop of a threaded needle, carry it down into the mouth, leaving the end which had been in the infra-orbital canal suspended between the alveolus and the upper lip; this end is cut off even with the mucous membrane.

To complete the operation, place a small gutta-percha tissue drain in the track of the nerve, extending from near the foramen rotundum to the surface. Suture the skin with catgut. The drain should be removed at the end of the twenty-four hours.

In behalf of this operation I would say, in conclusion, that it is very safe, simple, and can be performed on elderly and feeble people with but little shock. The relief is immediate in all cases, and a permanent cure is effected in many. The scar is insignificant and the patient is not confined to his bed for more than a week.

Its exact value can only be determined when more patients have been operated on, and the results more carefully noted.

OBITUARIES.

When the deep waters of the gliding river,
Born in weird regions of the frozen north,
In calm obedience to the great Lawgiver,
Down to the yearning sea go blindly forth—
Upon a hill-top unfrequented, lonely,

Perched on a rock that overlooks the stream,
An hour away from all that is unkindly,
I sit and gaze as in a waking dream.
Borne on its placid bosom, forward reaching,
I see the lazy ships go floating by,

Their idle sails against the masts hang bleaching,
No wind coquettes them from the silent sky,
But softly stealing, drifting slowly downward,
To the broad bosom of the waiting sea,
Bereft of breeze to impel them onward,
They float at ease, yet float resistlessly.

And as I watch them, and the hills concealing
Take them forever from my earnest gaze,
Into my soul is thrust the certain feeling,

I too am floating down the fleeting days;
Brief lapse of time and my frail bark will enter
On the broad ocean, far beyond the sight
And all the life-all things that round life centers,
Go drifting downward to eternal night.

-R. W. GRISWOLD.