Rest, as a therapeutic measure, is fraught with hazard. Prolonged periods of recumbency in bed are anatomically, physiologically and psychologically unsound and unscientific. Conversely, early restoration of medical and surgical patients to normal life is an essential feature of modern convalescent supervision. Prompt postoperative activity and walking provide manifest, safe and agreeable modifications in customary convalescent care by which ready rehabilitation may be achieved in the realm of surgery. The desirability of such a program for patients of advanced years has long been recognized; surgical wounds heal firmly even though early postoperative activity is encouraged. Infants and young children cannot be kept quietly at rest in bed after operation, yet postoperative hernias are not common. Utilization of this knowledge in the management of patients between the extremes of life promotes an equally uneventful convalescence. Early rising from bed and walking preclude the protracted period of inertia which traditionally follows in