78 WOUND TREATMENT 



important around the surgical field. These environs may 

 even be well soaked with water. 



For the outdoor operation the trodden corral and 

 tilled field are particularly dangerous, for the dust from 

 these sources is ridden with bacteria of the most harm- 

 ful sort, and usually there is wind to whirl about the 

 particles raised by the patient's struggles. 



Youngsters, either equines or bovines, shedding the 

 long shaggy winter coat, are about the most miserable 

 surgical prospects imaginable. In operations upon such 

 animals great clouds or even bunches of hairs are some- 

 times swept into wounds, and if there is added to this 

 the dust from a bare paddock the condition is abom- 

 inable and strictly unfit for any kind of surgical work. 



The use of any kind of litter as an operating bed may 

 likewise be condemned. There is no fit litter for sur- 

 gical work. A ban might as well be put on all kinds 

 of loose beddings used to make a soft place for re- 

 strained animals to lie upon during operations, for it is 

 positively impossible to maintain a decent state of sur- 

 gical cleanliness with loose particles whirled or trailed 

 into or near the wound at every movement. Whenever 

 the weather is too inclement for outdoor work it is bet- 

 ter to cast animals upon a bare floor, protecting the 

 head and hips with blankets if thought necessary. The 

 actual difference between a bare floor and a floor bedded 

 with two or three inches of straw is not great, measured 

 from the standpoint of the patient's comfort. Beddings 

 are usually pushed aside and the body rests upon the 

 floor before the operation is far advanced, and about the 

 only good accomplished by the bedding is the psycho- 

 logical effect it has upon the audience. Shavings prop- 

 erly moistened can be controlled better than any other 

 bedding, but these are seldom available and are none 

 too safe. It is better to abandon entirely the use of 



