A METHOD OF ANTISEPTIC TREATMENT 



APPLICABLE TO WOUNDED SOLDIERS 



IN THE PRESENT WAR 



[British Medical Journal, 1870, vol. ii, p. 243.] 



Having been requested to furnish some rules for the antiseptic treatment 

 of wounded soldiers in the present war, I venture to suggest the following plan, 

 in the hope that it will combine efficiency with the simplicity and facility of 

 execution essential under such circumstances. 



Wash the wound thoroughly, and also the surrounding skin, with a saturated 

 solution of crystallized carbolic (phenic) acid in water, one part of the acid to 

 twenty of water, introducing the fluid by means of a syringe, and manipulating 

 the parts freely so as to cause the lotion to penetrate into all the interstices of 

 the wound ; and at the same time squeeze out such clots of blood as it may 

 contain. The fluid should be introduced repeatedly to ensure its thorough 

 penetration. Tie any bleeding vessels with properly prepared antiseptic catgut, 

 cutting off the ends of the thread near the knot. If the surgeon do not possess 

 this article, the arteries should, if possible, be secured by torsion ; but for the 

 sake of cases in which a ligature would be absolutely indispensable, some silk 

 or linen thread should be kept steeping in a strong oily solution of carbolic 

 acid, or, if very fine silk be used, it may be rendered antiseptic by steeping for 

 a few minutes in the watery solution. When silk or linen is employed, the 

 ends of the ligatures should be left projecting at the wound. While the anti- 

 septic lotion is in the wound, extract if possible any foreign material that ma\'' 

 have been introduced, such as a bullet or a portion of the patient's clothes ; 

 and if any spicula of bone exist entirely detached from the soft parts, remove 

 such as can be readily reached, disregarding those which are of very small size 

 or inconvenient of access.^ Then place upon the wound two or three layers 

 of oiled silk smeared on both sides with a solution of carbolic acid in five parts 

 of any of the fixed oils— olive, almond, linseed, &c. — the oiled silk being made 

 large enough to cover the raw surface completely and slighth- o\orki]-) the sur- 

 rounding skin. Next apply, without loss of time, lint, charpie, or ckith (hnen 



' Gunshot-wounds should not be stitched ; but. where sutures are required, silk, steeped in oily 

 solution of carbolic acid, will answer sufficiently well. After the introduction of the last stitch, distend 

 the wound once more willi tlie watery solution, by means of the syringe, and then continue the dressing, 

 as in the text. 



