SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 299 



the observance of scrupulous cleanliness. The most subtle medica- 

 ments and antiseptics are worse than wasted if dirt claims a 50 per 

 cent interest in the business, as is too often the case upon the farm 

 where the care of an animal is relegated to ignorant and thought- 

 less hired help. Unless an animal is in slings, straw and other foreign 

 bodies as well as blood and necessary discharges usually adhere to a 

 wound when it comes to be dressed. These should be carefully freed 

 from the wound by means of a sponge dipped in a 2 per cent solution 

 of carbolic acid. The sponge should not be brought into actual con- 

 tact, but should be wrung out just above it, the water being allowed 

 to trickle over the injured part. When the wound and the parts 

 surrounding it have been thoroughly cleansed it may be dressed either 

 with the "white lotion," the formula for which has already been 

 given, or with a solution of chlorid of zinc, 1 ounce to a quart of 

 pure cold water. In cold weather the parts may be dressed with the 

 following: Oxid of zinc ointment, 4= ounces; compound tincture of 

 benzoin, 2 drams ; mix and keep the box covered. 



A single fold of ordinary cotton batting gently pressed over the 

 ointment will cause it to remain adherent to the wounded part. In 

 superficial excoriated wounds in cattle a very excellent first dressing 

 (after thoroughly cleansing the wound) consists of iodoform (a com- 

 pound of iodin and chloroform) blown on to the wound through a 

 quill or a folded piece of stiff paper. This should be followed by a 

 second dressing of pulverized aloes applied in the same way, which 

 not only forms an artificial scab, but possesses the additional advan- 

 tage of keeping off flies. 



There are several other applications which are efficacious, sueh as 

 bichlorid of mercury, 1 part to 800 of water; boracic acid, 1 part to 

 20 parts of water; carbolic acid, 1 part to water 30 parts; but the fore- 

 going will be found as good as any. 



No good purpose can be served by applying to healthy wounds irri- 

 tating mixtures of oils and acids, and an owner may safely make up 

 his mind to the fact that whatever mixture he may use^ no matter how 

 successful it may have been, he is pretty sure to have a neighbor who 

 will want to know the reason why he did not use something else. 

 "Whatever antiseptic is used, always recollect that cleanliness, rest, 

 and attention constitute 50 per cent of the contest, and that the other 

 half may safely be left to the restoring touch of Nature. 



Barbed-wire cuts. — We have specified these simply because there 

 exists in some sections of the country a fixed idea that there is a 

 specific poison in barbed wire, causing injuries which require treat- 

 ment differing from that which is applicable to ordinary wounds. 

 Barbed- wire cuts differ from ordinary wounds only in the parts being 

 often lacerated and torn, and the treatment already indicated for 

 wounds of that description is applicable to them. 



