PREFACE. 
It is an undeniable fact that the medicinal treatment of in- 
ternal diseases, as far as human medicine is concerned, is 
gradually becoming less, while the surgeon eventually draws 
more and more into his sphere such diseases, which, in re- 
gard to their therapeutics, belong in the territory of internal 
clinics. It is further proven that the surgeon has been able 
to encroach upon this territory of internal medicine chiefly 
through an acquisition of modern times, namely, the antiseptic 
treatment of wounds. The reason of this probably lies in the 
fact that a surgical operation in many internal diseases, for 
instance, of the peritoneal and thoracic cavities, without anti- 
septic precautions, was synonymous with death. 
While the surgeon in human medicine thus continues to gain 
in both territory and importance, the corresponding circum- 
stances in veterinary science are still wanting. Although for 
us veterinarians everything does not depend upon the sav- 
ing of the life of the individual, without any considera- 
tion of the costs, means, and effects, we should nevertheless 
use all means offered by science to preserve for the national 
wealth, all the funds invested in our domestic animals. 
Owing to the fact that we very frequently perform surgical 
operations to make animals more useful for our purposes, as 
well as to heal diseases, the consideration, whether the anti- 
septic treatment of wounds in veterinary surgery would not 
offer the same advantages as in human, was fully justified. 
However, in the attempt to utilize antisepsis in veterinary 
surgery the progress and results of the past did not warrant 
its general adoption by the veterinary profession. I have never 
doubted the good intentions of the veterinary practitioner to 
give the public better services than was possible heretofore, 
