XVIl] 



BACTERIOLOGY, ANTISEPTICS AND DISEASE 



207 



of the thread with a double reef knot, then to 

 make another similar stitch two or three inches, 

 as the case may be, from the first. As few 

 stitches as possible should be used. This method 

 is far superior to that of sewing continuous 

 threads as a tailor does in mending a tear in a 

 garment. 



810. Bandaging Wounds. It is generally 

 highly inadvisable to put bandages over wounds. 

 In some cases this is necessary, but drainage- 

 tubes must be put in, or else the bandages or 

 dressing must be removed every twelve hours 

 and the wound thoroughly syringed out and re- 

 bandaged. If a wound must be covered to keep 

 dirt out, a light sheet dipped in antiseptic solu- 

 tion should be put over it, then a waterproof 

 sheet over that. 



If it is required to prevent a wound from 

 healing too quickly for various reasons, as for 

 the purpose of maintaining internal drainage, 

 wet antiseptic cotton-wool pads should be 

 applied to the wound and covered with air-tight 

 sheets. Sometimes it is necessary to dust a 

 wound with a powder such as boracic acid or 

 iodoform ; this will keep flies off and also pre- 

 vent foreign matter from lodging in the wound. 



811. Antiseptic Precautions in Operating. 

 All instruments that are not already cleaned 

 must be scrubbed with aetherial antiseptic soap 

 (the ether dissolves any grease). Then they must 

 be sterilised immediately before the operation for 

 five minutes in boiling water. The operator 

 must wear a clean, white, long overall coat, and 

 have his shirt and other coat sleeves turned up 

 inside this coat. A table or tray that is abso- 

 lutely clean must be used to rest the instruments 

 on. A glass sheet that has been scrubbed and 

 disinfected is best for this. The operator's hands 

 (especially nails) must be thoroughly scrubbed 

 in hot water and aetherial antiseptic soap for 

 several minutes with a hard nail-brush. A clean 

 basin of 5 per cent, solution of creolin, lysol, 

 toxol, or Jeyes' fluid, must be ready, with plenty 

 of aseptic cotton wool for mopping purposes. 

 The instruments, syringes, needles, etc., must 

 be ready and lying on a towel that has already 

 been sterilised and soaked in an antiseptic. The 

 animal is given an anaesthetic or local anaesthetic 

 by an assistant, or by the operator, who should 

 wear gloves. The part to be cut, and for a 

 space of several inches around it, is shaved, 

 and scrubbed for three to five minutes in the 

 same way as were the operator's hands. 



Sponges should not be used, as it is im- 

 possible to keep them clean, but aseptic cotton 

 tufts should be used which should be destroyed 

 afterwards. 



Corrosive sublimate (mercury perchloride) 

 must not be used to disinfect metal, as it will 

 corrode it. 



812. The operator must take the greatest care 

 that his hands touch nothing that has not been 



made antiseptic ; he should have an assistant 

 who has similarly prepared his hands and who 

 takes the same precautions as he does, while 

 another assistant should attend to the chloro- 

 form, etc. If the horse is under chloroform there 

 is no need to hurry, as all voluntary muscles will 

 be relaxed, and by taking one's time a very 

 scientific operation is more likely to be per- 

 formed. Most bad and hurried operations that 

 end in blood poisoning are the result of the 

 operator not using chloroform, a question of 

 being penny wise and pound foolish, or, per- 

 haps, ignorance of the method of administering 

 chloroform. 



While the operation is being performed, 

 whatever it may be, it must be borne in mind that 

 an exit must be allowed from the wound through 

 which pus, etc., can drain after the animal is in 

 its normal position. 



After some operations which do not consist 

 in removal of internal abscesses, etc., and where 

 no pus-producing microbes gain entrance, due to 

 most careful precautions it will be safe to close 

 the wound up altogether, keeping aseptic dress- 

 ings on the outside of the opening for several 

 weeks until the hole has healed over. 



After any operation the temperature of the 

 horse must be watched for days, because a 

 sudden rise in temperature will reveal blood 

 poisoning, whereupon the wound will have to 

 be opened and attended to, and suitable internal 

 remedies given at once. (See Sec. 625.) 



Some Notes onthe Prevention 

 of Human Disease 



813. I feel that a few hints on the preven- 

 tion of human disease will not be out of place 

 in this chapter. Anyone who has studied higher 

 medical and veterinary science must realise what 

 appalling ignorance is daily displayed in the 

 knowledge of the spread of disease. If only a 

 few fundamental principles were observed by 

 every individual, the worst diseases that exist 

 to-day would soon become practically non- 

 existent. 



Consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs) is 

 easily spread by consumptives expectorating on 

 the streets and floors. Consumptive people often 

 seem to be the worst offenders in this objection- 

 able and dangerous habit, because habit it 

 merely is. They should expectorate into vessels 

 filled with antiseptic solutions and nowhere else. 

 If they spit on the floor or street, the microbes 

 settle on pieces of dust, etc., and when the 

 moisture surrounding them dries up, the septic 

 particles of dust may enter the lungs of a person 

 who is predisposed to the disease. Such infec- 

 tion might have no effect on most people, but 

 sooner or later a predisposed person may become 

 infected. 



Consumptives should also cough into hand- 



