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I'YOKKIKKA ALVEOLARIS. 29 sitting without anesthesia of any character, he leaves the of- fice of the dentist with a mental reservation that he will not return for another sitting. It is far better to avoid this dread than to have to labor to overcome it. By a proper application of local anaesthesia this operation may be rendered so free from pain that patients may be de- pended upon to return cheerfully for any number of sittings that may be deemed necessary. Often the dentist finds it necessary, or at least desirable, to operate upon several teeth at a single sitting, requiring pro- tracted effort on the part of the operator, and subjecting the patient to a test of endurance that without due safeguards might result in nervous collapse, or in something akin to sur- gical shock. In such protracted operations the patient should be fortified and protected by an effective local anaesthetic or obtunder of some character. GENERAL ANAESTHESIA. General anaesthesia is not practicable in operations in pyor- rhoea " pockets." It adds seriously to the difficulties of the surgeon, who has enough to occupy his whole attention with- out having the care of an insensible and unaccommodating it also contributes the element of dan- subject of anaesthesia ; ger to annoy the operator under circumstances where all should be perfectly safe ; besides, it requires special assistance, which sometimes is objectionable to patients, and might necessitate the presence of a physician.