TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 77 



less; when it is laden with suspended or flying particles 

 it must be reckoned with, and is probably more often 

 the source of mysterious wound infections than we at 

 first supposed. 



In my earlier teachings I was inclined to make light 

 of the possibilities of wound infections from this source, 

 just as the surgeons of human beings were doing after 

 they demonstrated the fallacies of Lister's historical 

 ' ' phenicated cloud. ' ' But a wider experience has taught 

 me that the air of stables, and especially of veterinary 

 hospitals, is quite different in this regard from that of 

 hospitals for human beings. 



While it is no doubt a fact that most of our infections 

 come from other sources, the air of our operating 

 rooms is not to be entirely ignored. Such rooms are 

 usually dust laden, the dust originating from badly con- 

 taminated floors, and even when measures are taken to 

 allay dust, the room may become recontaminated around 

 the surgical field with dust raised from the patient's 

 body. The body of a struggling animal may thus be- 

 come a veritable pest. Dust and hairs loosened by strug- 

 gles and then whirled about by drafts often create very 

 dangerous conditions and are diflieult to manage. We 

 would be making a poor start toward perfection in asep- 

 tic practice w^ere we to continue to disregard these 

 dangers. 



Refined nosocomial work demands special care to al- 

 lay suspended room dust by spraying, and to prevent 

 the raising of dust by mopping and flooding floors in- 

 stead of sweeping, and by wiping furniture and uten- 

 sils instead of dusting them. When these precautions 

 have been taken the patient itself might be brought in, 

 well groomed and moistened with a damp cloth to re- 

 duce to the minimum the amount of dust raised from 

 the body. This latter recommendation is particularly 



