CHAPTER VII 



THE BACTERIA OF WOUNDS AND OF SURGICAL 

 DISEASES 



ONE of the greatest dangers associated 

 with injuries and wounds of the body, 

 whether inflicted by accident or made by the 

 knife of the surgeon in necessary operations, 

 is the liability to what is known as blood 

 poisoning. 



So great is this danger, that in earlier 

 wars a great many more lives were usually 

 lost from blood poisoning than by bullets 

 or cannon-balls. The cause of this form of 

 disease, which is so apt to complicate wounds, 

 was for a long time unknown. Then, as 

 these wounds were apt, in blood poisoning, 

 to be foul and bad-smelling, it was concluded 



that the trouble might be that dirt or filth 



70 



