AN ADDRESS ON A NEW ANTISEPTIC DRESSING 323 



of a portion of bone with the pus. That case is pursuing a course which, aUow 

 me to say, psoas abscesses will pursue in the great majority of cases, if the 

 surgeon uses a trustworthy antiseptic, and takes the same pains with dressing 

 to the last as at the outset ; that is, he \vi\\ hnd his trouble rewarded b\' the 

 complete cure of these formerly incurable cases. I say this because I grieve to 

 think that psoas and lumbar abscesses still seem to be regarded as hopeless 

 affairs by many surgeons. In this man's case the temperature has never been 

 affected in the least ; he has put on flesh rapidly ; the discharge, after the 

 purulent and curdy matter that existed originally in the abscess was got rid 

 of, has been of a serous character, and is in small and diminishing quantity. 

 But the opening made for the discharge is in the vicinity of the pubes, and the 

 pubic hairs used, under such circumstances, to be a constant source of anxiety 

 to us unless frequently shaved away. Here we rub in at each dressing a little 

 of the moistened cyanide, and convert the hairs into an antiseptic application. 



I will not at present enter into the details of the preparation of this material ; 

 these will be supplied in a note on a future occasion. 



The sketch which I have given you of this investigation, though it has, 

 I fear, wearied you, conveys but a small idea of the toil it has involved. There 

 are those who still believe that the use of antiseptic substances in surgical 

 practice is always useless, if not injurious. The germ theory of septic diseases 

 is indeed now happily established incontrovertibly. i\ll now admit that septic 

 mischief in our wounds depends upon the development of micro-organisms in 

 them derived from without. But the gentlemen to whom I refer are, more or 

 less logically, disposed to trust everything to the antiseptic powers of the human 

 tissues. 



I believe I happened to be the first to direct attention to the antiseptic 

 agency of living structures, and there is, perhaps, no one who attaches greater 

 importance to it than I do. Without it, surger\^ in former days would ha\'e 

 been absolutely impossible. Still I know too well from experience that it cannot 

 always be trusted, and that the use of antiseptic adjuvants is in the highest 

 degree important ; and I have the satisfaction of knowing that there is among 

 you a constantly increasing number who, when they have operated on an un- 

 broken skin, with a fair field around for the application of their dressings, if 

 they see septic inflammation occurring in the wound with its attendant dangers, 

 know that it is their fault or the fault of the antiseptic appliances at their 

 disposal. To those among you who are impressed with this conviction I otter 

 the dressing which I have described as the most satisfactory that I have hitherto 

 met with ; and I \-enture to hope that you will regard it as a not unwelcome 

 addition to vour resources. 



