70 WOUNDS AND BRUISES. 



they will certainly induce the wound to heal quicker and in a more 

 healthy manner, than if they had not been employed. 



When cauYvymg out the usual routine of strict antiseptic precautions in an 

 operation, we begin, after having put on a clean linen overall, by 

 washing the skin that covers the part in which the incision is to be made, with 

 warm water and carbolic or other antiseptic soap ; keep applied to it for about 

 five minutes before the operation, a solution of carbolic acid (1 to 20 of water) ; 

 and thoroughly wash — using warm water, soap, and a nail-brush — the 

 instruments to be used, and keep them in a similar carbolic solution for at 

 least five minutes before they are required. The operator's hands (particular 

 care being taken to clean the nails) should be also disinfected with warm 

 water, soap, nail-brush, and carbolic solution. Before making surgical 

 wounds, the hair should be shaved off, and the skin of the part carefully dis- 

 infected ; for the glands of the skin and hair follicles form nests for bacteria, 

 which obtain a protective covering from the greasy matter of the skin. Be- 

 sides using soap and washing soda to remove this fat, we might eliminate any 

 remaining particles of it by the application of ether. While performing the 

 operation, the instruments and operator's hands (both having been purified 

 in the manner just described) should not be allowed to touch any object which 

 has not been equally well disinfected. The hands, if necessary, may be dried 

 with antiseptic cotton- wool, and the instruments laid out on a thick and folded 

 towel which has been boiled in water and soaked in a 1 to 20 carbolic solution. 

 The use of sponges is not advisable in veterinary surgery, for they are difficult 

 to keep clean. If they be employed, they should be previously washed with 

 washing soda, and kept in a 1 to 20 carbolic acid solution. Antiseptic cotton- 

 wool can be used instead of a sponge, and is easier to keep clean. If it be 

 required, it should be kept in the carbolic solution, and after it has been 

 employed it may be thrown away. 



The easiest way to disinfect instruments, supposing that they have metal 

 har.dles, is to put them into boiling water for about five minutes, after having 

 cleaned them. 



To arrest bleeding we may proceed as directed on pages 71 and 72. Any 

 ligatures used in tying cut arteries should be of prepared catgut, silk thread 

 or horsehair. The two last mentioned should be steeped for some time in the 

 carbolic acid solution before being employed. To stop oozing of blood in a 

 wound, we can use pressure with a pad of antiseptic cotton-wool. Or we 

 may apply water at a temperature of from 120° to 125*^ F. (p. 65). If the 

 oozing continues, we should let the wound dry before closing it up After the 

 wound has ceased bleeding, it may be, washed with carbolic solution and then 

 covered up with tannoform or iodoform. We may place over this eight or nine 

 layers of clean, soft cotton cloth which has, if possible, been previously boiled, 

 soaked in the carbolic solution, and slightly wrung out, so as to deprive it of an 

 excess of moisture. As carbolic acid is volatile, the whole should be covered 

 over with mackintosh, or with gutta-percha tissue prepared for the purpose. 

 For human practice. Lister recommends the double cyanide of mercury and zinc 

 instead of iodoform, and as a covering, takes, say, 6 yards of unprepared 

 absorbent gauze (to be obtained from any chemist), folds it lengthwise in eight 

 layers, and soaks it thoroughly in the carbolic solution, after having dusted 

 dyed double cyanide of mercury and zinc over one of the centre pieces of the 

 gauze. He then rolls up the eight layers of gauze together, and kneads them 

 with the fingers for a minute or two, so as to diffuse the salt (to an amount of 

 about I oz.) throughout the mass, as will be shown by the colour. This 

 specially prepared dye causes the cyanide to adhere to the fabric. 



Owing to the difficulty of keeping dressings on a horse, and to 

 the unfavourable conditions under which we have often to treat the 

 animal, we have, as a i-ule, instead of adopting the somewhat ela- 



