To the Editor: —Anent the controversy of your correspondents (Dr. M. W. Lyon, Jr.,The Journal, Dec. 20, 1919. p. 1897, and Dr. Ramsay Spillman's rejoinder, Jan. 3, 1920. p. 47) will you please allot me some of the valuable space ofThe Journalto shed additional light on the moot point, "acute abdomen." I want to call attention to the fact that William Henry Battle, senior surgeon to St. Thomas Hospital, London, whose name is identified with the incision so extensively employed in operations for appendicitis, delivered an oration before the Medical Society of London, ten years ago, entitled "The Acute Abdomen." Under this very caption, "The Acute Abdomen," the first edition of his monograph, 250 pages, appeared, dedicated to students and surgical dressers, which, having been exhausted in 1914, went into a second edition. Perusal of this book, "The Acute Abdomen," which bids fair to become a classic,