KKliMt-M A I ION. 551 



a distance of live indies from the wound. The two were 



Conn. . Irehnieally called, 



through which he was able to empty tin- absce.-s, without 

 the application of the Ian 



By what agency was (hat channel formed what was it 

 that thus tore asunder tin- sound tissue of my instep, and 

 kept me for six weeks u prisoner in bed? li. 

 room \\here '.he water dressing had been remo\ed from my 

 wound ami the L'oldbeater's-skin applied to it. 1 opened 

 - ar a number of ; -utahiing perfectly dear ami 



infiiHons of lisli, lle.-h. and vegetable. These hcr- 

 :illy sealed infusions had heen exposed for weeks, 

 hoth !o the sun of the Alps and to the warmth of u 

 kitchen, without showing the slightest turbidity or sign 

 of life. But two da\s after they were opened the : 

 number of them swarmed with the bacteria of putrefaction. 

 the serins of which had bc-en con traded from the dust-laden 

 air of the room. And had the matter from my ftl 

 been examined, my memory of its appearance leads me to 

 infer that it would have been found equally swarming with 

 these ba.-t.-ria that it was their germs which got into my 

 incautiously opened wound, and that they were the subtile 

 workers that burrowed down my shin, dug the abscess in 

 my instep, and produced e fleets which might easily have 

 proved fatal. 



This apparent digression brings us face to face with the 

 labors of a man who combines the penetration of the true 



ist with the skill and conscientiousness of the tn 

 perimenter, and whose practice is one continued demonstra- 

 tion of the theory that the putrefaction of wounds is to be 

 averted by the destruction of the germs of bacteria. Not 

 only from his own reports of his cases, but from the 

 reports of eminent men who ha\ his hospital, 



and from the opinions expressed to me by continental 

 surgeons, do 1 ^ r a:her that one of the greatest steps ever 

 made in the art of sur-j.-ry was the introduction of the 

 antiseptic system of treatment, introduced by Professor 



interest of this subject does not slacken as we 

 proceed. - an with the cherry-cask and beei 



wo end witli the body of man. There are persons I >> in 

 with the power of interpreting natural factd, as 



