ASEPSIS, ANTISEPSIS AND DISINFECTION. 27 
would be obliged simultaneously to remove the infected sub- 
stratum with the infection germs in the immediate surround- 
ings of the wound, so that probably in a wound of the size of a 
quarter of a dollar we would make a defect the size of a palm 
or larger. Nothwithstanding this, however, we follow these in- 
dications as far as advisable, for we remove with a knife, scis- 
.sors, sharp spoon or curette, necrotic shreads of tissue gran- 
ulation surfaces of diseased bones, foreign bodies from the 
wound, etc. Thus we use the purely surgical adjuvants to at- 
tack infection mechanically, but we do not always succeed in 
reaching our object, for very frequently we would by using 
this method against infection, “spill the bath with the child,” by 
simply destroying the infected organism. 
Thus in the most frequent cases the other method only is 
left us, namely the killing of the microbes, and this mode is the 
most popular and is looked upon as the most essential, though 
not altogether justly, in the antiseptic treatment of wounds. 
The above mentioned two methods of killing micro organ- 
isms: 
First—Direct killing of the microbes. 
Second—Withdrawing of the existence condition of the mi- 
crobes by changing the nutritive medium, should not only the- 
oretically, but also practically, be strictly separated, for the 
action of various remedies, which we use later in the treat- 
ment of wounds, can only be understood if we clearly compre- 
hend the two above mentioned possibilities. 
As far as the direct killing of the micro organism is con- 
cerned, the fact that they are vegetable living subjects with 
protoplasmic bodies is sufficient reason that the microbe will 
die if we change this protoplasmic body so that it cannot 
govern its nourishment and multiplication. We reach this end 
by certain chemical substances, which act as poison on the 
protoplasm of the micro organisms, and are called ‘“Disin- 
fectants.” 
The question of destroying the causes of infection by chang- 
ing the nutritive medium is an entirely different one. We 
know that one of the most important requisites of existence for 
