92 WOUND TREATMENT 



with tlie needle holder, or else wear sterilized, skin-tight 

 gloves while suturing. 



7. Protect wounds with antiseptic dressings instead of aseptic. 



8. Attend yourself to the after-care of wounds instead of trust- 



ing it to untrained hands. 



9. Prevent wounds from coming into contact with the stall, bed- 



ding, or ground. 



Classification of Wounds 



The time-honored custom of classifying wounds into 

 incised, lacerated, punctured, and so on, although almost 

 consecrated by usage, serves no useful purpose and might 

 therefore be entirely discarded in the study of wound 

 treatment. These names reflect only the character of the 

 causative instrument, and that without giving a hint 

 about the particular treatment they might require. As 

 a basis for a detailed description of wound treatment 

 these names are useless unless prefixed with simple, per- 

 pendicular, complex, superficial, oblique, deep, trans- 

 verse, soiled, mutilated, sheltered, venomous, or some 

 other descriptive adjective that would indicate the plan 

 of management. 



Take for example an incised wound, the basis of nearly 

 all surgical operations. That it was made with a sharp 

 instrument is less important in the treatment than the 

 fact that it was made with a dirty knife, that its direction 

 is such that it cannot be drained, or that it is located in a 

 place where muscular movements cannot be controlled. 

 These are a few of the elements that call for special man- 

 agement of animal wounds, and it is upon these that a 

 classification should be based. 



The classification that appeals most to the writer is one 

 which at once indicates a particular plan of manage- 

 ment, as follows: 



1. Aseptic incised wounds; wounds without loss of tissue or in 



which the loss is not great. 



2. Wounds with loss of underlying tissue which can be bridged 



