TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 79 



litter as a surgical appurtenance, and thus dispose of 

 one of the sources of air contamination. 



In short, air is a prolific source of wound infection 

 in animal surgery that should be dealt with consistently. 

 It is not so dangerous as Lister taught before the days 

 of bacteriology, but more dangerous for veterinarians 

 than for the surgeons of human beings, who operate 

 under much more favorable conditions than is ever 

 possible for us. 



Instruments as Conveyors of Infection 



As instruments come into direct contact with wounds 

 they are more certain to inoculate them than the other 

 objects used in wound treatment. The metallic instru- 

 ments used in surgical work (knives, forceps, and so 

 on) become progressively more dangerous day after day 

 unless submitted to an effectual sterilization. That is, 

 instruments used from the pocket case or from shelves 

 of the instrument case soon become very dangerous. 

 They will infect every raw spot they touch with appal- 

 ling certainty. 



Wound infection from this source is avoidable under 

 all circumstances in veterinary as in human sargery, 

 and should therefore be entirely eliminated. There is 

 absolutely no excuse for wound infection from instru- 

 ments. They can and should be sterilized before every 

 operation and then so handled during an operation as 

 to prevent them from becoming contaminated. Veteri- 

 narians who continue to operate without first sterilizing 

 their instruments are fortunately fewer than formerly, 

 but I regret to say they are still legion. 



Boiling is by far the easiest as well as the safest 

 method of making instruments safe. To assure safety, 

 metallic instruments should be boiled ten to fifteen min- 



