PREPARATION OF INSTRUMENTS,, ETC. 213 



(4) Rinsing with sterile lime water to rid of excess of acid. 



(5) Washing in i-iooo bichloride of mercury solution for 

 one minute. 



Weir's method : ( i ) Hands and forearms are scrubbed 

 as in other methods. (2) A scant tablespoonful of chlori- 

 nated lime is moistened with enough warm water to make a 

 thick paste. This is carefully rubbed into hands and fore- 

 arms. (3) A piece of carbonate of soda one inch square and 

 one-half inch thick is crushed and rubbed into the paste. 

 From three to five minutes are thus employed. (4) Rinsing 

 in sterile water and washing in a solution of of I per cent, 

 of ammonia, removes the odor of chlorine. 



E. R. McGuire 1 states that prolonged scrubbing with frequent changes 

 of brushes in running sterile water will give the nearest approach 

 to sterility. The use of antiseptics on the hands is not to be relied 

 upon, for their precipitation by chemicals or normal tissue fluids may 

 break up their combination with bacteria that were considered inactive 

 or dead, but are not so in reality. He suggests the use of hot-air, by 

 cabinet-bath or Kelly hot-air apparatus, to " sweat " out of the glands 

 in the skin as much as possible of their contents before the skin is 

 cleansed. 



Prolonged soaking of the skin in a soap poultice or strong 

 antiseptic may damage and irritate the tissues, so that it is 

 not advisable to prepare the field of operation more than 

 twelve or twenty-four hours before the time set for an 

 operation. 



Maylard 2 recommends the sterilization of the skin by 

 inunctions of oleate of mercury. The method employed is 

 as follows : ( i ) Cleanse the skin in the usual way with soap 

 and water. (2) Anoint freely and widely with hydrated 

 lanolin-oleate of mercury, 20 per cent., and rub in; smear 

 a piece of gauze with the same and leave until a second 

 inunction is performed twelve hours later. Every case 



1 American Medicine, February 28, 1903. 



2 Annals of Surgery, January, 1902. 



