SURGICAL ANTISEPSIS. 263 



become very easily disseminated through the air where every- 

 thing is dry. Even walking through the room is sufficient to 

 stir up the bacteria from a dry, dusty floor. The air is, how- 

 ever, probably not as serious a source of danger as the others 

 mentioned, for there are not as many bacteria, specially not 

 as many pathogenic bacteria found in the air as was at one 

 time supposed to be present there. In the early days of anti- 

 septic surgery the air was supposed to be such a dangerous 

 source of infection that operations were performed under a 

 carbolic acid spray. The seat of operation and the hands of 

 the operator were sprayed continuously throughout the opera- 

 tion. This practice is no longer employed. Still the danger 

 from the air infection although less serious than was at one 

 time supposed should nervertheless not be overlooked. 



The danger from the introduction of bacteria into a surgical 

 wound from the surface of the patient's own body must be care- 

 fully guarded against. There are apt to be pus-producing 

 cocci on the surface as well as deeper in the layers of the epider- 

 mis. The staphylococcus epidermidis albus (Welch) is found 

 to be quite constantly present in the deeper layers of the epider- 

 mis, and is apt to give rise to the stich abscesses which so often 

 form around sutures in even the most successful operations. 

 Surgical cases also are common in which bacteria have been in- 

 troduced in an accidental wound either at the time of the ac- 

 cident, as where the patient has received an accidental wound 

 with some infected instrument, or where the patient has been 

 thrown to the ground and had dirt rubbed into the wound, or 

 where the patient has been wounded with a dirty splinter of 

 wood or dirty nail or the infection of the wound may take place 

 later by the dressing of the wound with dirty rags. In every 

 case the seat of operation should be disinfected as thoroughly 

 as possible. Unfortunately this is a difficult, not say an impos- 

 sible task in some case at least. Certain parts of the body are 

 much more easily disinfected than other parts. The abdomen 



