PREFACE 



The treatment of wounds in the hands of the average 

 veterinarian has not improved as much in the last dec- 

 ade as have other branches of purely operative surgery. 

 A score of years ago, few veterinarians expected that 

 wounds made in the course of their operations could 

 be healed without infection. Now, the more successful 

 practitioners reproach themselves if a wound of their 

 own making develops sepsis. The treatment of acci- 

 dental wounds, on the other hand, is much the same 

 now in the practice of most veterinarians as it was a 

 double decade ago — that is, they are treated by 

 washes, ointments, or dusting powders, as the inclina- 

 tion of the practitioner may direct, and seldom is a 

 real conscious effort made to render them germ-free, 

 suture them up, and procure healing by first intention 

 without the development of sepsis. 



This average of conditions is not true of the work of 

 all, and it is for the purpose of placing the methods used 

 by a number of the most successful practitioners in the 

 hands of the whole profession that this little volume has 

 been issued. It comprises the better articles on the use 

 of antiseptics, suturing and treatment of wounds in gen- 

 eral, that have appeared in the American Journal of 

 Veterinary Medicine during the past four or five years. 

 The editor is convinced that the treatments herein given 

 are practical for the average practitioner, and their care- 

 ful study will prove of much value to him. 



D. M. C. 



Evanston, Illinois, 

 September, 1915. 



