182 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
tended over a large surface, where it is limited to a region regular in its. 
external conformation and formed of muscular layers, when its evolu- 
tion is not “ fulminating,” and when the organism is not seriously intoxi-. 
cated, art is not disarmed ; a powerful intervention may yet be fol~ 
lowed by success. It must be acknowledged, however, that the number 
of recoveries has been exaggerated, by reporting, under the name of 
“septic gangrene,”’ cedematous or crepitating tumefactions which had 
nothing septiceemic in their nature. 
Every subject affected with septicemia must be placed in a place 
where the air can be frequently changed and where the floor and walls. 
can be sprinkled with disinfecting volatile liquids : the antiseptic vapors. 
will spread in the air, penetrate into the organisms by the lungs, and 
may act favorably against incipient intoxication. 
Excision of the aseptic tissues with the knife is a process that we do 
not recommend. It is always diffcult, and often impossible to mark. 
the correct line of demarcation ; the wound thus produced has often a 
great extension and depth; and no matter how large the ablation may 
be, there almost always remains an infected zone, the ground occupied 
by the bacilli extending beyond the marks made by the surgeon. Inter-. 
ference should consist in deep, numerous scarifications made on all the 
contaminated surface and a little beyond its outlines. The cautery is. 
to be preferred to the bistoury tomake them. These scarifications allow 
the escape of putrid liquids and gases accumulated in the sphacelated. 
parts, and of the serosity gathered in the cedematous region. After-. 
wards should follow, several hours apart, antiseptic injections of a 
strong solution of carbolic acid, corrosive sublimate, or permanganate 
of potassium, which, thus carried directly into the bottom of the infected 
tissues, may arrest the pullulation of the septic agents. A long trocar 
may be used to make them penetrate deeply. The entire surface of 
the gangrenous center must also be irrigated with the disinfecting liquid.. 
Trasbot finds the best local treatment of septicaemia in cauterization 
in points quite large and deeply penetrating into the septic swelling, 
with injections of tincture of iodine two or three times a day into the 
points, and iodine coatings painted with a brush over the invaded. 
region. Many times has it been “ very cfficacious ” in one of the most. 
dangerous forms of traumatic gangrene. 
The introduction into the circulation of the toxic substances elaborated 
on the gangrenous surface produces an increasing depression in the pa~. 
tient. If itis yet willing to take liquids let them be added to these diffusible. 
stimulants (wine, alcohol) or antiseptics (cresyl, carbolic acid, camphor, 
tannin, cinchona). If not, those medicaments should be administered. 
through the rectum. Cresyl, naphtaline, and subnitrate of bismuth 
are useful in septic diarrhoea. Subcutaneous injections of ether or of 
caffeine should be prescribed if the heart is weak. 
