1 16 PA THOGENIC BA CTERIA . 



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 brush 

 previously sterilized 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, 

 after which they are ready for use. 



Lockwood, 1 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 soap- 

 suds 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 min- 

 utes, the solution is washed off in i : 2000 or i : 4000 

 biniodid of mercury solution. 



Catgut cannot be sterilized by boiling without deterio- 

 ration. The present method of preparing it is to dry it 

 in a hot-air chamber and then boil it in cumol, which is 

 afterward evaporated and the skeins preserved in sterile 

 test-tubes or special receptacles plugged with sterile cot- 

 ton. Cumol was first introduced for this purpose by 



1 Brit. Mcd. Jour., July II, 1896. 



