Well, I just scared up, in a Bermuda gazette of some kind, an advert for something called Phosferine, with a testimonial letter from Edwin Greene, "one of the most famous Musical composers of to-day." It dates from 1903, one year after publishing "Sing Me to Sleep." Greene extols its use after recovering from surgery and says it helped him.
And the surgery in question, the letter names as 'Inguinal Colotomy.'   Now, THAT sounds dire.