AN ADDRESS ON THE ANTISEPTIC SYSTEM 

 OF TREATMENT IN SURGERY^ 



Delivered before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow. 

 [British Medical Journal, 1868, vol. ii, pp. 53, loi, 461, 515 ; 1869, vol. i, p. 3or.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen. — In order that the antiseptic system of 

 treatment may confer upon mankind all the benefits of which it is capable, 

 three things appear to be indispensably requisite. First, that every surgeon 

 should be convinced of the reality and greatness of those benefits, so that he 

 may be induced to devote to the antiseptic dressing of a case the same kind 

 of thought and pains as he now, if at all worthy of the name of surgeon, bestows 

 upon the planning and execution of an operation ; secondly, that these efforts 

 on his part should be directed on sound principles ; and thirdly, that, for carry- 

 ing out these principles, he should have thoroughly trustworthy practical means 

 at his disposal. I venture to hope that the illustrations which I propose to bring 

 before you this evening may promote in some degree each of these essentials. 



In speaking of the antiseptic system of treatment, I refer to the systematic 

 employment of some antiseptic substance, so as entirely to prevent the occur- 

 rence of putrefaction in the part concerned, as distinguished from the mere 

 use of such an agent as a dressing. The latter has long been practised in many 

 parts of the world. The former originated rather more than three years ago 

 in this city (Glasgow). The material which I have generally used for the 

 purpose is carbolic (or phenic) acid, which, when I first published on the subject, 

 was new to most British surgeons as an external therapeutic agent. This 

 circumstance, while it had the effect of attracting greater notice to the matter 

 than might otherwise have been the case, was perhaps on the whole a misfortune, 

 since it tended to distract attention from the essential principles of the treat- 

 ment which I advocated, and to lead many in this country to look upon carbolic 

 acid in the light of a specific. On the other hand, continental surgeons visiting 

 our infirmary, familiar with the use of carbolic acid as an ordinary antiseptic 

 dressing, have invariably formed a just estimate of the advantages derived 

 from its employment upon the system to which I have alluded. 



* This address does not profess to give a complete account of the antiseptic system, but was based 

 upon some illustrations which happened to be at my disposal. One of these, an experiment in support 

 of the germ theory of putrefaction, was dwelt upon at considerable length, in accordance witli what 

 I believe to be the great practical importance of the subject to which it refers. 



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