66 . VETERINARY. SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
cavity. Almost all the Veterinary Schools of Europe and of the 
New World have also rooms for operations, provided with appliances 
and material which make easy the practice of asepsis and antisepsis : 
such as the Daviau and Vinsot apparatus,—mattress for casting large — 
animals; special tables with metallic cover for other animals, the 
Chamberland autoclave, drying ovens, fixed and movable reservoirs 
for antiseptic mixtures, etc. 
Fortunately, it is not necessary to follow strictly this technic, 
in order to have, in the case of all kinds of animals, long lists of suc- 
cessful operations, without excepting those that are performed on the 
abdomen. Even in the case of man, when the operation is to be 
made oitside of the hospitals, the surgeon, with less complicated 
means, knows how to realize a sufficient antisepsis and obtain an 
“‘almost complete immunity.” . 
Our colleagues, who have given lists of 100 castrations on cryptor- 
chids, without a single failure, have certainly not complied with all 
these rules of antisepsis. Although these are very important, when 
one operates in an infected center, in the atmosphere of an hospital, 
with instruments ‘‘to do everything” (@ /out faire), they may be 
partly neglected for operations performed under more favorable cir- 
cumstances, either in cities orin the country. Without such abun- 
dance of instruments, of vases, antiseptic agents and materials for 
dressings, conditions of asepsis can be realized, sufficient to insure 
satisfactory results in operation. There are, besides, circumstances 
in which a surgical interference must be immediate, in which the 
patient cannot be saved except by an operation made immediately, 
and that, too, with whatever means one may have at his command. 
In such cases, let us see how to proceed: The operation should 
be performed under a shed or in the open air, without neglecting to 
utilize the ‘sterilizing action of the sun.” One should see that dust 
raised by the struggles of the animal be not permitted to accumulate 
in large quantities over the field of operation; to do this a light 
sprinkling of the bed is an excellent precaution (Méller.) Two large 
basins should be used to prepare a solution of common salt (6 to 7 per 
cent) in boiled water. The region to be operated upon, clipped or 
shaved, should be well scrubbed with soap or with a rough towel, 
then washed with the salted water. After cleaning his nails, the 
surgeon should wash his hands and forearms with the same solution 
and soap. An earthen bow! passed through the flame of the alcohol 
lamp should be used for the ablutions during the operation. 
The instruments should be disinfected by passing them through 
the flame of an alcohol lamp, or a wax candle, or that of a straw 
fire, etc., or by dipping them for 5 or 10 minutesina boiling solution 
of carbonate of soda (1 per cent.) Boiling salt water will be used to 
disinfect the towels, threads, oakum, etc. 
