186 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BACTERIA. 
But while the surgeon attributed his success to 
the absence of germs, and gave all the credit to 
M. Pasteur, the microscopists had no difficulty in 
proving that, far from being exempt from them, 
the pus of the wounds kept under these dressings — 
swarmed with micro-organisms. It was, then, to 
some very different conditions that the real progress 
as realized by M. Guérin should be ascribed. The 
constant temperature, the absolute immobility, the 
continued pressure, and consequent absence of any 
rent of the tissues, as well as the absolute want of 
absorbent openings upon the surface of the wound, 
are probably the circumstances to which so many 
happy cures have been due since 1870. 
Among the chemical agents to which recourse 1s 
had we must place in the front rank carbolic acid, 
extolled especially by Lister. Not more than for 
M. Guérin can we deny the fact that the number 
of cures after severe surgical operations has been 
considerably increased by operating under a cloud 
of pulverized carbolic acid solution, and applying 
upon the wound nothing but dressings which have 
been for a long time submitted to the action of 
this agent. But in this instance also the interpre- 
tation was a mistaken one, in seeking the secret of 
success in the exclusion of every microbe; for, in 
a great majority of cases, Virchow has not been 
able to find any appreciable difference between 
the pus treated by the old methods and that of 
wounds submitted to that of Lister. And, never- 
theless, purulent infection disappeared, complica- 
tions of all kinds diminished singularly in fre- 
