operator's hands. 47 



Sponges are very useful for the purpose of soaking up blood, 

 etc., when operating, but as it necessitates a lengthy and 

 troublesome process to cleanse and render them sterile, it is 

 the wisest plan to avoid their use whenever it is desired that 

 immediate union shall take place. 



Tampons of Cotton-wool which have been boiled for about 

 fifteen or twenty minutes and afterwards placed in a reliable 

 antiseptic solution are much better, and as they are cheap they 

 can be used freely. They are made either by merely screwing 

 up some cotton-wool into little balls or," better still, by stitching 

 small pieces of clean gauze around small masses of wadding. 

 If required to be used dry they can be sterilised by being 

 placed in a glass stoppered jar and kept in an oven at a tem- 

 perature of 1 60° C. for about an hour. Sponges, to be rendered 

 sterile, have to pass through a complicated process of washing 

 and soaking in solutions of hydrochloric acid, boiled water, soda, 

 sulphurous acid, boiled water again, and lastly some antiseptic 

 lotion.^ 



PREPARATION OF THE OPERATOR'S HANDS. 



This part has been placed second to that of the treatment 

 of the instruments, because in these days of aseptic and anti- 

 septic surgery it seems hardly necessary to say that the operator 

 should pay particular attention to the condition of his hands, 

 nails, etc. 



If an excuse is necessary for alluding to the subject it must 

 be that the student does not easily understand the importance 

 of always going through a regular routine before operating. 

 Again, in veterinary operations it is not at all times possible to 

 get the assistance and spotless surroundings which accompany 

 the surgeon in human practice. 



The operator in veterinary practice has to attend personally 

 to the securing of the animal, and in doing so is compelled 



^ "Aseptic Surgery," 0. B. Lockwood, p. 184. 



