DISINFECTION OF THE AREA OF OPERATION. 



S3 





weak antiseptic solutions. The lining is cleansed with warm water 

 and soap, dried, and irrigated with 3 to 4 per cent, boric acid solution, 

 1 in 1000 permanganate of potash, or 1 in 5000 sublimate solution. 

 If discharge is abundant, the use of bismuth, salol, or iodoform is 

 indicated. 



Antisepsis of the vagina is usually easy. Soap solution is used 

 for cleansing the mucous membrane, which is afterwards irrigated 

 with 4 per cent, boric, 2 per cent, protargol, or 1 

 in 2000 sublimate solution. These irrigations are 

 repeated on several successive days. Instead of 

 syringes, irrigators consisting of a glass reservoir 

 and an india-rubber tube can be used. It is diffi- 

 cult, however, to disinfect the vagina when the 

 mucous membrane is the seat of polypi, ulcer- 

 ating tumours, or when it has been infected during 

 removal of a putrid foetus. 



The uterus, after preliminary dilatation of the 

 cervix, can be disinfected in the same way as the 

 vagina, a long india-rubber tube being employed. 



Beyond passing the catheter, operations on the 

 bladder are seldom required. Before operating for 

 calculus in horse or dog, a course of urinary dis- 

 infectants should be prescribed (salol, benzoic acid). 

 In this case preventive treatment is of the greatest 

 importance. Until now the dangers of catheterisa- 

 tion, as usually practised, have not received 

 sufficient attention. Acute cystitis and its various 

 complications may follow the introduction of soiled 

 catheters, which are cleansed with difficulty and Fig. 88.— Drainage 



are more or less septic. Catheters and bougies tubes in sublimate 

 . ° . or carbolic solution, 



should be disinfected by prolonged immersion in 



strong antiseptic solution, and afterwards enclosed in gauze and 



kept in a special case. 



In operations on the foot, local antisepsis is ensured by the 



following method : — -The shoe is removed, the plantar surface of 



the hoof thinned, the hair clipped away from the limb up to 



the knee, the hoof thoroughly brushed with hot water and soap, 



freely washed with an antiseptic solution, in which it should be 



immersed for a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, then enveloped 



in compresses saturated with an antiseptic, and fixed in position 



by means of bandages. Linseed poultices prepared with a strong 



disinfectant solution certainly soften the horn, and may be useful, 



