TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 81 



more serious import. Working continually among in- 

 fected objects and infected structures of the body of 

 diseased animals that must be handled manually, the 

 veterinarian who indulges in major surgical work, or 

 who desires to have nice results from his minor work, 

 must learn first of all that his hands are dangerous 

 and unless managed properly will defeat his every other 

 precaution to perform aseptic operations. The hands 

 that remove a putrefied placenta or decomposed fetus are 

 not fit to handle internal organs or raw wound sur- 

 face* for some time, even when careful washing precedes 

 the operation, for no washing, no matter how carefully 

 done, will immediately rid them of infectious material. 



The exact truth in this connection is that bare hands 

 are never safe. Even the hands of the human surgeon 

 are not so regarded, and his work is by no means of 

 such a filthy character as that of the veterinarian. 

 Just before operating, the veterinarian is often engaged 

 in much dirty preparatory work — casting or otherwise 

 securing his patient. The paraphernalia used around 

 a veterinary surgical operation is dirty in the surgical 

 sense and abominably contaminated with the dirt of 

 preceding operations. As these must be handled with 

 the hands, there is little chance of the veterinarian ever 

 having hands that are fit to handle tissues or instru- 

 ments that must come in contact with tissues. And 

 since the wearing of sterilized, skin-tight rubber gloves 

 is not practicable for ordinary operations, it would 

 seem that we here meet an insurmountable obstacle. 



The truth is, however, quite different, for if we prac- 

 tice the art of avoiding the digital manipulation of raw 

 surfaces the obstacle is at once removed, no matter how 

 dirty the hands are. Ablutions of soap and water fol- 

 lowed by a rinsing in mercuric chlorid are all that is 

 needed to prevent infection from the hands when han- 



