12 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



clean gauze around small masses of wadding. If required to 

 be used dry, they can be sterilized by being placed in a glass- 

 stoppered jar and kept in an autoclave, or even an ordinary 

 oven, at a temperature of i6o° C. for about an hour. 



Preparation of the Operator's Hands. 



This part has been placed second to that of the treatment 

 of the instruments, because in these days of aseptic and 

 antiseptic surgery it seems hardly necessary to say that the 

 operator should pay particular attention to the condition of 

 his hands, nails, etc. 



If an excuse is necessary for alluding to the subject, it 

 must be that the student does not easily understand the 

 importance of always going through a regular routine before 

 operating. Again, in veterinary operations it is not at all 

 times possible to get the assistance and spotless surroundings 

 which accompany the surgeon in human practice. 



The operator in veterinary practice has to attend personally 

 to the securing of the animal, and in doing so is compelled 

 to touch parts of the latter's body which are far from 

 clean according to bacteriological ideas. Before operating, 

 the hands, particularly the nails, should be thoroughly 

 soaked and scrubbed for five minutes with soap and hot 

 water (containing some antiseptic) by the aid of a clean nail- 

 brush, again with ether, spirit, or ether soap, and then held 

 for some minutes in some clean antiseptic solution. In 

 abdominal and some of the more serious operations the 

 operator cannot be too scrupulously careful. During the 

 operation care must be taken not to touch anything which 

 has not been rendered aseptic, and if by accident this is done 

 the hands must be again carefully disinfected before touching 

 either the wound or the instruments. The wound should 

 be touched with the fingers as little as possible. The choice 

 of the antiseptic must be left to the operator, care always 



