INTRODUCTION. xi 



manner, that advised for the operator's hands serving as a 

 type. Whenever circumstances will permit the operative 

 field should be kept in an antiseptic bath or pack for twenty- 

 four hours prior to the operation in order that the deeper 

 parts of the skin, especially the hair follicles and sebaceous 

 glands, shall become thoroughly disinfected, a process well 

 nigh impossible in a short period. 



The suturing, dressing and bandaging of the wound 

 should be carried out carefully in every case and no opera- 

 tion left without completing it in the best manner possible. 



The student should make each operation as real as possible 

 and not omit any detail even if he thinks he already knows 

 it sufficiently well, as the repetition of a supposedly familiar 

 detail serves an important purpose in the fixing of a habit 

 which is inestimably more valuable to the surgeon than any 

 theoretical knowledge of technic. 



The safe surgeon is he who has so accustomed himself to 

 the technique of asepsis and antisepsis that he carries it out 

 rigidly in an automatic manner and is thus free to concen- 

 trate his entire attention on the surgical problems before 

 him. 



The student who consults his interests will go yet farther 

 and prior to undertaking any operation on the living subject 

 will study the regional anatomy of the part on the cadaver 

 and learn therefrom all that he can of the structure of the 

 part which he must finally complete upon the living animal. 

 No dissection of the cadaver can ever teach true surgical 

 structure as the dead tissues can not be like the living, but 

 such dissection can and does give great aid and should be 

 pursued as far as it can lead and enough will still remain to 

 be learned on the living subject. It is. to be constantly re- 

 membered that afiatomy deals with the structure of the dead 

 body while surgical operations are performed upon the 

 living structures : they are not alike. 



