TREATMENT AFTER OPERATION. 93 



Special precautions are required to combat such local complications 

 as abscess formation, burrowing of pus, phlebitis, lymphan^^ntis, 

 necrosis or caries- This is not the place for considering them. We 

 need only say that prolonged immersion in warm antiseptic solutions 

 produces remarkably s^ood results in infected wounds of the extremities, 

 and that spraying with similar solutions is an excellent method of 

 disinfecting cavities in regions to which continuous irrigation is 

 inapplicable. 



Speaking generally in veterinary practice, preference should be 

 given to such methods as are simple and relatively cheap, but expense 

 should be regarded as of secondary importance when dealing with 

 penetrating wounds of the thorax, abdomen, articulations, tendon- 

 sheaths, and with injuries to tendons, cartilages, and bones. It then 

 becomes the duty of the veterinary surgeon to prevent, by every means 

 in his power, grave infectious complications resulting from such wounds. 

 The unfavourable conditions under which he habitually works, and 

 the intractability of most of his patients, render primary union of 

 operative wounds in the greater number of cases uncertain. Although 

 in the country it is unnecessary to practise asepsis and antisepsis 

 as rigorously as in a great human hospital, it would be the less 

 excusable to entirely neglect such principles, inasmuch as we know 

 very well the grave consequences which may follow. If unable to 

 satisfy all the demands of the antiseptic system, we should at least 

 observe its broad principles. 



