SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 



By William Dickson and William Hebbekt Lowe, D. V. S. 

 [Revised by B. T. Woodward, V. M. D.] 



Surgery is both a science and an art. The success of surgical 

 operations depends on the judgment, skill, and dexterity, as well 

 as upon the knowledge of the operator. The same fundamental 

 principles underlie and govern animal and human surgery, although 

 their applications have a wide range and are very different in many 

 essential particulars. We must not lose sight of the fact that hygiene 

 and sanitation are essential to the best results in veterinary as well 

 as in human surgery. 



Asepsis is an ideal condition which, although not always possible 

 in animal surgery, is highly important in connection with the me- 

 chanical details of all surgical operations in proportion to the nature 

 and seriousness of the same. 



Aseptic surgery is considered to be the performance of operations 

 with sterile instruments with the hands of the operator and the site 

 of operation being rendered as nearly sterile as possible, and the 

 wound treated during operation with sterile solutions and protected 

 following the operation with sterile bandage material. In other 

 words, it is the preservation of the highest degree of cleanliness in 

 connection with operations. 



Local or general anesthesia should be resorted to in painful and 

 serious surgical operations, as operations upon all living creatures 

 should be humanely performed and all unnecessary pain and suffer- 

 ing avoided. Anesthesia is necessary where absolute immobility of 

 the patient is essential and where entire muscular relaxation is 

 indispensable. The anesthetic condition is also favorable for the 

 adjustment of displaced organs. 



Large animals have to be cast and secured before an anesthetic is 

 administered. For complete anesthesia inhalations of chloroform 

 are generally employed ; sometimes of both ether and chloroform. 

 The quantity of chloroform required to produce insensibility to ex- 

 ternal impressions varies much in different cases and must be reg- 

 ulated, as well as the admixture of air, by a competent assistant. 



If the probability of the success of an operation is remote and the 

 animal is in healthy physical condition, so that its flesh is good for 

 human food, it is more advisable to butcher the animal than to 



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