62 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
are left for 20 minutes in boiling water, and then placed in glass 
tubes containing a corrosive sublimated solution 2 to 1,000, and ster- 
ilized by exposure to a temperature of 120° for half an hour. 
These manipulations, prescribed for the sterilization of compresses, 
threads and drains, are not strictly necessary. Immersion for 5 or 
10 minutes in a phenic, cresylic or strong corrosive sublimate solu- 
tion, carried to ebullition, is the common practice in veterinary 
surgery. ~It is considered sufficient (Bang). 
The operative field and its surroundings must be carefully purified. 
In all animals, the skin, even in a state of perfect cleanliness, is 
occupied on its surface by numerous micro-organisms of very many 
kinds, among which the staphylococci (staphylococcus albus and 
aureus) are especially abundant. It is, therefore, always indispen- 
sable to proceed to the disinfection of the region to be operated upon. 
If the skin is sound, the hair should be cut with scissors and the 
tegument soaped, shaved, brushed and washed with boiled water. 
After having been dried with sterilized compresses, friction with 
alcohol or ether should be made to remove the greasy substances on 
its surface. This is completed by a last washing with a strong © 
phenic acid solution or corrosive sublimate 1 to 1,000. If the skin 
is infected, if the region is the seat of an ulcer, suppurating trauma- 
tism or a fistula, one must, the day before the operation, or several 
days before; scrape the wound with the curette, and then proceed 
as indicated. These two methods are not applicable to all surfaces. 
They must be modified for certain regions ; for the mouth; the nose, 
the ear, vagina, uterus, bladder, rectum andthe foot. Thesurgery 
of those regions requires a special technic. In the case of all 
mucous membranes, in order to permit the more complete action of 
antiseptic solutions, a free washing with boiled water should be made, 
to remove the mucus deposited on their surface. 
The mouth is a cavity always inhabited by micro-organisms, and its 
disinfection is difficult. In large animals, free washings with water, 
and cleansing with solutions of boric acid (2 to 4 per cent.), of perman- 
ganate of potash (1 percent.), are sufficient. In the case of dogs, loose 
teeth and diseased roots should be extracted. Gums are to be 
touched with a tincture of iodine or solution of creosote. 
Intestinal antisepsis, employed in cases where the intestines are to 
be the seat of the operation, or when manipulations are to be made 
in the peritoneal cavity (laparotomy, ovariotomy, cryptorchidy), de- 
mands the following precautions: purgation, low diet or milk diet, 
and administration of antiseptic agents. Saline purgatives given in 
small doses for several days do well to prepare the asepsis of the in- 
testines ; afterwards, naphthol, betol, or creolin (50 centigrammes 
to 1 gramme for small animals, 5 to 10 grammes for horses and cat- 
tle). Enemas of solutions of permanganate of potash (1 per cent.), of 
ef 
