186 PHYSIOLOGT OF THE BACTERIA. 



But while the surgeon attributed his success to 

 the absence of germs, and gave all the credit to 

 M. Pasteur, the microscopists had no difficulty in 

 proving that, far from being exempt from them, 

 the pus of the wounds kept under these dressings 

 swarmed with micro-organisms. It was, then, to 

 some very different conditions that the real progress 

 as realized by M. Gue"rin should be ascribed. The 

 constant temperature, the absolute immobility, the 

 continued pressure, and consequent absence of any 

 rent of the tissues, as well as the absolute want of 

 absorbent openings upon the surface of the wound, 

 are probably the circumstances to which so many 

 happy cures have been due since 1870. 



Among the chemical agents to which recourse is 

 had we must place in the front rank carbolic acid, 

 extolled especially by Lister. Not more than for 

 M. Guerin can we deny the fact that- the number 

 of cures after severe surgical operations has been 

 considerably increased by operating under a cloud 

 of pulverized carbolic acid solution, and applying 

 upon the wound nothing but dressings which have 

 been for a long time submitted to the action of 

 this agent. But in this instance also the interpre- 

 tation was a mistaken one, in seeking the secret of 

 success in the exclusion of every microbe ; for, in 

 a great majority of cases, Virchow has not been 

 able to find any appreciable difference between 

 the pus treated by the old methods and that of 

 wounds submitted to that of Lister. And, never- 

 theless, purulent infection disappeared, complica- 

 tions of all kinds diminished singularly in fre- 



