ANTISEPTIC PREPARA TION OF INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 1 1 



Drainag-e-tubes, either of glass, metal, or rubber, are 

 readily sterilized by boiling and afterwards being immersed 

 in an antiseptic solution. The chief trouble with our patients 

 is to keep the tubes clean when in position, and in reality the 

 less they are used the better, a plug or tent of antiseptic 

 cotton-wool being usually an efficient substitute. 



Spongfes are very useful for the purpose of soaking up 

 blood, etc., when operating ; but as it necessitates a lengthy 

 and troublesome process to cleanse and render them sterile, 

 it is the wisest plan to avoid their use whenever it is desired 

 that immediate union shall take place. To be rendered 



Fig. 5. — Glass Ligature Bottle (Clarke's). 



aseptic they have to pass through a complicated process of 

 washing and soaking in solutions of hydrochloric acid, boiled 

 water, soda, sulphurous acid, boiled water again, and lastly 

 some antiseptic lotion.^ 



Tampons of cotton-wool or swabs which have been boiled 

 for about ten or fifteen minutes and afterwards placed in a 

 reliable antiseptic solution are much better, and, as they are 

 cheap, they can be used freely. They are made either by 

 merely screwing up some absorbent cotton- wool into little 

 balls, or, better still, by stitching or tying small pieces of 

 1 'Aseptic Surgery,' C. B. Lockwood, p. 184. 



