60 ANTISEPTIC TREATMENT OF WOUNDS. 
antiseptic, such as bichloride of mercury, iodoform, boric or 
carbolic acid. It maintains asepsis in aseptic wounds, and 
helps to disinfect septic ones. It takes up the exudations so 
perfectly that it is not necessary to change the bandage oftener 
than once every two or three days in wounds with medium- 
sized cavities that have not become septic, but in septic 
wounds and those attended with profuse exudation, absolutely 
requiring drainage, the bandage needs to be changed usually 
twice a day. For all wounds requiring drainage in the smaller 
animals and the smaller wounds in the larger animals antiseptic 
gauze is the ideal packing. Oakum is more suitable for the 
larger wounds, especially those with cavities in them that re- 
quire the maintenance of a free external opening till they fill 
up from the bottom with solid, healthy granulations. It takes 
up the exudations and maintains a good drainage better than 
other substances. Before being used it should be soaked for 
ten or fifteen minutes in a one per cent. solution of bichloride 
of mercury, or a five per cent. solution of carbolic acid or other 
antiseptics. A. H. BJ 
Another drawback to the use of drainage tubes is their lia- 
bility to either fall out, or be drawn into the wound. In our 
domesticated animals the former usually occurs. This‘ can, 
however, be avoided by suturing the outer end of the tube to 
the edge of the wound. 
As wound exudates do not always absorb, one of the import- 
ant demands, without which the best applied drainage does not 
perform its function, is to allow them to flow downward ac- 
cording to the laws of gravity. This may require counter 
openings for the sole purpose of establishing proper drainage. 
On account of these drawbacks attempts were made to en- 
tirely discard the use of drainage in human surgery. As a 
matter of fact, it is possible to attain good results without 
drainage, and as, especially in veterinary surgery, these mis- 
haps appear rather frequently, we must discover and eventually 
adopt only such measures which will make drainage unneces- 
sary. 
