210 Sterilization and Disinfection 



of thin rubber to all other means of preventing manual in- 

 fections. Others prefer to use detergent and disinfectant 

 measures. The method at present generally employed, and 

 recommended by Welch and Hunter Robb, is as follows: 

 The nails must be trimmed short and perfectly cleansed. 

 The hands are washed thoroughly for ten minutes in water 

 of as high a temperature as can comfortably be borne, soap 

 and a previously sterilized brush being freely used, and 

 afterward the excess of soap washed off in clean hot water. 

 The hands are then immersed for from one to two minutes 

 in a warm saturated solution of permanganate of potassium, 

 then in a warm saturated solution of oxalic acid, until 

 complete decolorization of the permanganate occurs, after 

 which they are washed free from the acid in clean warm 

 water or salt solution. Finally, they are soaked for two 

 minutes in a i : 500 solution of bichlorid of mercury. 



Lockwood,* of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, recommends, 

 after the use of the scissors and penknife, scrubbing the 

 hands and arms for three minutes in hot water and soap 

 to remove all grease and dirt. The scrubbing brush ought 

 to be steamed or boiled before use, and kept in i : 1000 

 biniodid of mercury solution. When the soapsuds have 

 been thoroughly washed away with plenty of clean water, 

 the hands and arms are thoroughly washed and soaked 

 for not less than two minutes in a solution of biniodid of 

 mercury in methylated spirit; i part of the biniodid in 500 

 of the spirit. Hands that cannot bear i : 1000 bichlorid 

 and 5 per cent, carbolic solutions bear frequent treatment 

 with the biniodid. After the spirit and biniodid have been 

 used for not less than two minutes, the solution is washed 

 off in i : 2000 or i : 4000 biniodid of mercury solution. 



It is a mistake to insist upon the employment of disinfect- 

 ing solutions of a strength injurious to the skin. It must be 

 obvious to every one that rough skins with numerous hang- 

 nails and fissures offer greater difficulties to be overcome in 

 disinfection, and more readily convey micro-organisms into 

 the wound than smooth, soft skins. 



Sterilization of Ligatures, etc. Catgut cannot be steril- 

 ized by boiling without deterioration. The present method 

 of treatment is to dry it in a hot-air chamber and then boil it 

 in cumol, which is afterward evaporated and the skeins pre- 

 * " Brit. Med. Jour.," July u, 1896. 



