I9o CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE 



new surgery to almost all the surgical ills that flesh is 

 heir to. The wonderful results to both life and limb that 

 I have recounted have naturally followed. 



Even amid the disabilities and obstacles of war itself 

 Lister's work has been a boon beyond price. 



While the soldier and the scientist have been busy de- 

 vising ever more frightful engines of destruction to maim 

 u.nd to kill, we surgeons have been equally busy devising 

 means for saving thousands of lives and limbs in civil 

 life, and even amid the carnage and savagery of war. 



Surely our hearts should be lifted in gratitude to God 

 for giving us such splendid powers of reasoning, experi- 

 ment and research all for the service of our fellow men. 



In the five years since these lectures were delivered, the 

 treatment of infected wounds has been revolutionized, and 

 with the happiest results. The exact percentages have 

 not yet been tabulated. 



If seen within about the first twenty-four hours after 

 the wound has been inflicted, the wounds were usually 

 only "contaminated" ; i.e., the germs had only invaded the 

 surface and had penetrated to a slight depth into the tis- 

 sues. In this case, careful removal of all "foreign bodies," 

 such as fragments of the missile, and especially of in- 

 fected clothing carried deep into the wound, was thor- 

 oughly carried out. The wound was then widely opened 

 down to the very bottom (debridement). This was 

 followed by the entire removal of the layer of "contami- 

 nated" flesh to which as yet the bacteria were practically 

 confined (epluchage). By these steps, the great bulk of 

 the germs were removed mechanically. Moreover, this 

 contaminated layer of tissue, owing to the injury done to 

 it by the missile moving with enormous velocity, had had 

 its vitality destroyed and was sure to die. Such dead and 

 dying tissue was the most favorable food for the bac- 

 teria. 



The wound could then be closed at once and immediate 

 recovery, without fever or suppuration, followed in eighty 



