PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 277 



process, but if the edges part the process of cicatrization 

 will be rather slow in bringing them together again. 

 Open-wound treatment will then be necessary. Irrigations 

 with strong antiseptics followed with the application of 

 dry powders is the most effectual until the granulations 

 have completed their mission of bringing the cavity to the 

 level of the surface. When the cavity is full of granulation 

 tissue, drugs other than antiseptics are indicated for the 

 first time. Astringents should then be applied to control 

 the granulations. If too exuberant, caustics or even the 

 actual cautery are indicated^ but such complications are rare 

 when the treatment has been correct throughout. 



Open wound treatment is not unlike that recommended 

 in the preceding paragraph. The wound is irrigated with 

 potent antiseptic solutions and dusted with, powders several 

 times daily until the granulations are level with the sur- 

 rounding skin, at which time the astringent remedies are 

 indicated until the scar is formed. 



The healing of a wound depends upon the formation 

 of the granulations, a process which in turn depends upon 

 the vitality of the tissues and never upon the application of 

 any medicaments. The formation of granulation tissue can- 

 not be easily augmented by the application of any chemical 

 substance. Powerful drugs are more apt to retard their 

 growth than to augment it. The surgeon engages himself 

 with strenuous efforts to kill the micro-organisms, to wash 

 them out and to deprive them of their nutrition, while the 

 vital forces repair the breach by first forming the succulent 

 granulations and then transforming them into scar tissue. 

 During the transformation (sclerogenesis) their growth 

 must be arrested in order to limit the size of the scar. 



The protection of wounds against mechanical violence 

 is a very important part of wound treatment in animals. 

 By intentionally or accidentally i-ub})ing the wound against 



