120 WOUND TREATMENT 



bring out every vestige of the soiled tissue, it would be 

 no more dangerous than other wounds, and when the 

 invading incision required to accomplish this mechanical 

 disinfection seems feasible, much the best plan of punc- 

 tured wound treatment is to get right down to the bot- 

 tom of things and clean out the whole tract at once. 

 When this is not feasible, the tract should be opened 

 as far as possible and the rest cleaned out with the curette 

 and then submitted to a prolonged irrigation with a 

 weak antiseptic solution or else cauterized with a car- 

 bolic swab. Cauterization should, however, never be 

 practiced unless it is positively assured that the very bot- 

 tom will be reached, because such treatment may actually 

 form a better cloak for anaerobes that survive beneath 

 the eschar. A splendid example of punctured wound 

 cauterization is the application of muriatic acid to nail 

 punctures of the feet of horses. If the tract is shallow, 

 and the acid reaches its depth, the wound heals promptly 

 and the plan (generally carried out by horseshoers) is 

 given a boost. On the other hand, when the tract is 

 deep and therefore only partly cauterized, a serious sup- 

 purative or gangrenous inflammation is sure to super- 

 vene, and if the patient escapes these, tetanus may follow 

 later. 



For the punctured wounds of large dimensions pene- 

 trating the large muscles of the chest, buttocks, and 

 neck of animals, usually sustained by collisions v. ith 

 broken stalls, fences, or vehicles, the best form of .steri- 

 lization is a prolonged irrigation. The tract of such a 

 wound contains torn muscle, shreds of fibrous tissue, 

 blood clot, and hairs and dirt carried in with the wound- 

 ing object. It is impossible to manage these because of 

 their inaccessible location except by washing out every- 

 thing that is loose and cleaning everything that is at- 

 tached, by a diligent irrigation. An attempt should be 



