PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 271 



profuse. More often the two are simultaneously exe- 

 cuted. In the accidental wound this step of wound treat- 

 ment consists of removing foreign bodies, dissecting away 

 shreds of unviable and dead tissues, dividing tissues to es- 

 tablish drainage and cutting away or curetting badly in- 

 fected tissues. It is the trimming up or smoothing up of the 

 anfractuous trauma, a part of wound treatment that, more 

 than any other, determines its future behavior. It not only 

 mechanically disinfects the wound, but also takes away 

 available nutriment from the micro-organisms that still re- 

 main. In the surgical wound this step is the operation 

 proper. The tumor is ablated; the necrotic cartilage, the 

 necrotic bone, the necrotic ligament, is removed; the nerve 

 is resected ; the tendon is divided ; the tooth is repulsed ; 

 etc. ; etc. It is here that one surgeon demonstrates his skill 

 over another. One lays bare a whole hot-bed of disease 

 and removes it completely at one stroke, while the other 

 makes a half-hearted incision and leaves morbid tissues be- 

 hind to perpetuate the condition, until a second or a third 

 operation becomes necessary. 



2. The Haemostasis. — Before, at the time, or imme- 

 diately after the preceding step, the flow of blood is con- 

 trolled. Sometimes it is so profuse that all other steps of 

 wound treatment must be abandoned for the time being. It 

 may be found necessary to immediately apply a com- 

 pressing bandage, or a compressing pack without further 

 ceremony. Ordinarily, however, the flow is nominal ar)d 

 may be leisurely attended to as the treatment proceeds. 

 In no case must this step be neglected. The serious haemor- 

 rhage is arrested to save life, and the trivial one to favor 

 the healing process. Blood clots confined beneath the 

 sutured skin furnish a favorable field for microbian growth, 

 and otherwise mechanically interfere with the process of re- 

 pair. The accumulation of blood within a wound should be 



