58 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
must have his hands perfectly clean. The nails, the sub-ungual 
spaces, chaps, wrinkles, and the pores of the skin are true ‘‘ micro- 
bic dens,” and to destroy all of these microbes, the greatest care- 
is necessary. There are even cases where, no matter what is 
done, hands cannot be rendered completely aseptic. Kiimmel, Fiir- 
bringer, and Terrillon have observed that when they have been 
soiled with pus, putrid or septic liquids (interference with injected 
wounds, post-mortem), it is impossible to render them absolutely 
sterile for forty-eight hours. This is a fact that surgeons must 
bear in mind, when they are about to operate upon the 4bdomen © 
(laparotomy, cryptorchidy, ovariotomy) ; it imposes, when possible, 
the postponement of an operation for several days, and also greater 
care when the case does not permit of postponement ; and it explains 
perfectly the failures which sometimes occur when one thinks he 
has followed all the rules and should have been successful. 
The toilet of the hands begins with the mechanical cleaning of 
nails, dry, and cut short; then the hands and forearms should be 
washed with soap and warm boiled water, and rubbed with a brush 
ora coarse towel; they should be washed a second time with alcohol 
at 80’, then a third time with a solution of corrosive sublimate of 
1-1000, Alcohol is very advantageous to dissolve the greasy sub- 
stances which interfere with the effect of the antiseptic bath. 
More complex procedures have been recommended, but this one 
is sufficient ; andin our surgery most commonly the care of the nails, 
and the washing with soap and boiled water, followed by one witha 
corrosive sublimate solution 1 to 1000, orcresyl 3 p.c., are all that is 
done. The hands must remain free from all dirt during the whole 
operation, ‘‘aseptic they must be, aseptic they must remain.” One 
should be careful not to touch with them the skin of the surrounding 
parts, nor the table upon which the animal lies, nor the straw, —in 
fact, any object not disinfected. Even when no suspicious substance 
has been touched, it is proper, during the operation, to dip the hands 
now and then in the Van Swieten solution ; and whenever they have 
lost their ‘‘ antiseptic virginity,” the whole process of cleaning must 
be done over again (Forgue and Reclus). This has to be done 
often during operations performed upon animals; and this rule 
must be severely followed, especially when manipulations are made 
about the peritoneal cavity. In those cases, a simple oversight of 
this kind may be the cause of the death of the patient. - 
Covered with a blouse or with an apron, the operator should have 
the shirt sleeves rolled up. It is wise for those who perform 
delicate operations, and who wish to obtain adhesive cicatrization, 
to keep their beards and hair short; all rings and jewels would 
better be removed, so that the hands may be perfectly free when | 
working on the abdomen. 
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