PREVENTION AND FIRST AID TREATMENT OF DISEASE. 327 



or Cresyl, can also be used when obtainable, and are excellent 

 antiseptics. 



Washing ivou?ids. — When a wound is perfectly healthy with no Washing 

 discharge, water should be used as little as possible, but at the same wounds, 

 time with wounds in animals it is generally necessary to wash them or 

 the surrounding parts thoroughly with soap and water, and they should 

 be dried carefully afterwards. In dry, hot climates this cannot do harm, 

 but in damp weather it should be avoided if possible and dry dressings 

 employed. Having dressed the wounds, they should be covered with a 

 piece of antiseptic lint or tow, and a sufficiently thick pad of the same to 

 soak up discharges and prevent any dirt getting on them ; but if a 

 bandage cannot be applied, it is better to cover them with a thin 

 network of antiseptic cotton wool, which will stay on by itself. 



To irrigate woiaids constantly, take a tin or bucket, make a small To irrigate 

 hole in the bottom large enough to admit a stout string, run the string wounds, 

 through and fill with water. The water will trickle constantly down the 

 string, which should be loosely looped round the place required to be 

 irrigated. 



Bajidas^ing over wou7ids should only be carried out where there is no Bandaging 

 chance of causing swelling, and care must be taken not to draw any one over 

 portion tighter than another. For the legs loose pyjamas tied with a wounds, 

 running tape at top and bottom and suspended from the surcingle or a 

 crupper are most useful. 



Stitchino; wou?tds in animals should only be undertaken when the Stitching 

 parts can be kept at rest, and the wound, needles, sutures and operator's wounds. 

 hands are absolutely clean ; it should not be done when there is the 

 likelihood of much swelling round the injury or when the edges are 

 badly bruised ; and in addition it must be remembered that over many 

 parts of the body animals are able to twitch their skins violently and so 

 dislodge or tear the stitches. Stitches should be as few as possible, 

 every stitch separate with a good hold on each side and not drawn so 

 taut as to cause any tension on the skin. Generally speaking, most 

 wounds do not require it, and it often does more harm than good when 

 dirty materials and hands carry it out. Needles, and everything else 

 used on wounds, should be thoroughly cleaned, and boiled or kept in an 

 antiseptic solution to prevent any chance of their conveying germs from 

 one wound to another. 



Wounds near joints should be touched with hands and instruments Wounds 

 as little as possible and should not be fomented or poulticed. Every P^.^^ 

 joint is surrounded by a thin air-tight bag, the inside of which J°^^^^- 

 manufactures "joint oil" to lubricate the surfaces of the bones. Should 



