172 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
street nail made ona horse’s foot and other researches of the same kind,. 
the part which the nervous system plays in the genesis of traumatic: 
febrile action is secondary. 
The prophylaxis of surgical fevers depends altogether upon antisep-- 
sis. With it we can, henceforth, screen our patients operated upon and. 
our wounded from those intoxications, considered in days gone by as. 
fatal, which result from the absorption of putrid liquids collected on the 
exposed wounds or under the dressings. All operation on healthy 
tissues, performed aseptically, ought not to be accompanied by other 
than benignant phenomena of reaction and a moderate hyperthermia. If 
it is made on inflamed, suppurating tissues, one should reduce to the 
minimum the febrile manifestations, by minutely disinfecting the wound 
and its surroundings (washings, baths) previous to the act of operating ;. 
the diereses made with the red hot wire expose these lesions less to ab- 
sorption of putrid matter and to intoxication than those made with the- 
bistoury. Nothing demonstrates more forcibly the influence of anti- 
sepsis upon the degree of the traumatic pyrexia in animals than a com- 
parison of the thermic curves taken upon subjects of an operation whose 
wound had been covered with a wadded dressing, or with one of oakum. 
not disinfected. We may remark, however, that even in operations and. 
dressings made as they should be, one does not always succeed in pre- 
venting a somewhat marked elevation of temperature. At times, with: 
subjects whose general condition and the great functions are scarcely: 
disturbed, one will observe thermic ascensions which reach 1.5°, without. 
manifest complication from the wound, but these cases are exceptional ;. 
general troubles are ordinarily in proportion to the hyperthermia; and 
when the mercury reaches 39.5°, it is wise to remove the dressing and: 
look. For the same reason, ifthe fever does not subside by the eighth 
or the tenth day, often, there is an accumulation of pus or of putrid. 
-serosity in the wound, when a local gangrenous or necrotic complication 
has not already taken place. The irrigation of the trauma with an an-- 
tiseptic solution (carbolic acid, creolin or chloride of zinc) is sufficient to. 
lower the temperature, sometimes to bring it back to a figure close to- 
normal, 
With exposed wounds, the same result may be obtained by disinfec-. 
tion, and free escape of the secretions, draining, and the use of absorb-. 
ing powders. The flow of the liquids being insured, if the fever con- 
tinues to be high, all there is to do is to increase the antiseptic washings. 
and watch the surroundings of the wound; sometimes the phlegmasia. 
is very high, at others a phlegmon or lymphangitis is developing. 
The internal treatment is that of fever in general. We generally 
prescribe only slight purgative alkalines. Surgical fevers, however,. 
being attenuated forms of putrid intoxication, it may be a good thing, 
if they are severe,to have recourse to antiseptics and antipyretics 
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