68 WOUND TREATMENT 



Wound infections of the surgeon's making, once the 

 rule, are fast becoming the exception. 



During the last two decades the veterinarian has, 

 of course, learned much, with the rest of mankind, about 

 the nature and behavior of wound infections, and espe- 

 cially about the manner wound infections are carried 

 into wounds. We have been painfully slow to acknowl- 

 edge the venomous nature of our hands and instruments, 

 in ^ur well-rooted belief that microbes around a sur- 

 gical operation on animals were so abundant and so 

 volatile that no system of procedure could cope with 

 them. With all of these prejudices out of the way, and 

 with every one satisfied that the animal surgeon may 

 now, if he chooses, protect his patients against these 

 self-made infections, our attention must be directed also 

 toward other obstacles. What these are and how we 

 may attempt to meet them will be considered in the 

 succeeding paragraphs. The object of this article is 

 more to bring the modern conception of wound treat- 

 ment before the profession in the hope that a better 

 system of wound treatment applicable to animals may 

 be adopted in the veterinary profession to the decided 

 benefit of our onward march toward higher levels ; pre- 

 cisely as a few years ago it was found necessary to 

 preach the gospel of asepsis. That these obstacles are 

 formidable, and the recommendations I may be able to 

 make inadequate, is hereby acknowledged. 



The treatment of wounds! Let us understand one 

 another. What to rub on a wound or what not to rub 

 on a wound is not in our mind in this discussion. On 

 the contrary, we are taking the treatment of wounds 

 in its fullest sense, ' ' The curing of the patient by the 

 surgeon," for this is what wound treatment is, after 

 all. In surgery the healing of the wound is usually 

 analogous to curing the patient. It is evident, therefore, 



