INTEODUCTOEY NOTE 



The virtual triumph of the Antiseptic system of 

 surgery, based as that system is on the recognition of 

 living contagia as the agents of putrefaction, is of 

 good augury as regards the receptivity of the public 

 mind to new views respecting the nature of contagia 

 generally. 



To the credit of English surgeons it stands recorded 

 that, guided by their practical sagacity, they had 

 adopted in their hospitals measures of amelioration 

 which reduced, almost to a minimum, the rate of mor- 

 tality arisfng from the ' mortification ' of wounds. 

 They had discovered the evils incident to ' dirt ;' and, 

 by keeping dirt far away from them, they had saved 

 innumerable lives, which would undoubtedly have suc- 

 cumbed under conditions prevalent in many of the 

 hospitals of continental Europe, 



In thus acting, English surgeons were, for the most 

 part, ' wiser than they knew.' Their knowledge, how- 

 ever momentous in its practical applications, was still 

 empirical knowledge. That dirt was fatal they had 

 discovered ; but why it was fatal few of them knew. 



