1893.] MICIlOSCOriCAL JOURNAL. 41 



Iiifliiciicr of llic Stinl.v ol" HactcrioloLT.v in llic lh'V(l(t|un('iit 

 oi Asrptic SiULrcr.v in tlic Hospitals ol" Palis in \S\)'2. 



Bv KOBKR'r l<l•:^ BIRN. A. .M , .M. 1)., 



Professoy of J'/iysioloify imd Cliuical Siiigcry^ Mcdiful Dfpai tiiient, 

 Hoivmti University., 



WAHIIINOTON, H C. 



Ha\iii<; (hiring the p:ist .six years made three visits to Great 

 Britain and ihecontiiient (jfluirope — viz., in iSS6, iSyoaiui 1892 — 

 I liave stiuliecl witli iiuich care and interest tiie progress and 

 develo[)nient of aseptic surj^erv in these countries. Durinj^ the 

 suninier of 1892 1 paid special attention to what I saw of the 

 surtjerv of London, Berlin, and Paris. The present paper will 

 treat only of aseptic surgery as I saw it in the hospitals of 

 Paris in 1892. The history of the influence of hacteiiological 

 studies in the development of aseptic surgery is one of the 

 most interesting and imjiortant of the modern discoveries in the 

 science of medicine. The wildest dreams of our imagination 

 could never have foretold the momentous consccpiences that 

 would result from the discovery and investigations of the Bac- 

 teria and other minute micro-organisms. It is a striking illus- 

 tration of the fact that we often do not, and cannot, ap|)reciate 

 hovv far-reaching and important a scientific discovery may be, 

 even when it seems to have no practical use or benefit at the 

 time. To the great Professor Pasteur's labors, chiefly, we owe 

 the foundation upon which antiseptic and aseptic surgery have 

 been built. He demonstrated that t,he processes of fermentation 

 and putrefaction are entirely due to the presence and action of 

 these microscopical germs, and if they are absent these changes 

 will never take place. This was followed by the labors of Prof. 

 Tyndall, of England, who proved conclusively that if we would 

 completely exclude the living germs or Vjacteria of the air from 

 infusions of animal or vegetable matter they could be kept 

 indefinitely. 



Infusions such as beef tea. mutton or chicken bioth, and infu- 

 sions of hay and other vegetable structures may be kept for 

 years if, after boiling to sterilize or kill the living germs con- 

 tained iji them, they were hermetically sealed to exclude the air 

 which contains the germs. He found also if the mouths of the 

 vessels containing these infusions were plugged up with aseptic 

 cotton, to filter out the germs as the air passed in and out, that 

 these infusions could be preserved indefinitelv. 



To Prof. Lister we owe the grand idea of excluding the bac- 

 teria and other germs from wounds, and thus creating the then 

 new science of antiseptic surgery. It is perfectrv true that 

 aseptic surgerv as now practised in this countrv and in Europe 

 is verv different, and far superior in efficacy and simplicitv, from 

 the cumbrous procedures and dressings devised and practised by 

 the father of antiseptic surgery ; nevertheless we must never 



