PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 279 



tioii is often out of proportion to the importance of the 

 operation. The relatively small economic importance of 

 each surgical procedure necessitates the adoption of a prac- 

 tical technique that will create the best possible conditions 

 under the circumstances. To create an aseptic condi- 

 tion in a badly septic environment is often possible, but the 

 success so universally obtained in human surgery cannot 

 be expected in veterinary surgery. 



Asepsis depends not only upon obeying the standard 

 details, but also upon the general cleanliness of the sur- 

 roundings. Some years ago a certain eccentric human 

 surgeon, probably in a spirit of contrariety, refuted the 

 germ-theory of v^^ound diseases and still had success that 

 compared very favorably with those of his colleagues. An 

 investigation proved that he was scrupulously clean in his; 

 work. His operating room was immaculate. He washed 

 everything thoroughly, — his hands, his patient and his in- 

 struments. Soap and water were his sole weapons. When 

 everything is dirty around a surgical operation or around 

 a surgical convalescent, micro-organisms will often creep 

 into the wound in spite of all the precautions. 



Operations performed in the operating room or out-of- 

 doors, on patients afterwards placed in reasonably clean 

 surroundings yield the highest percentage of so-called 

 aseptic results. Country operations are more successful in 

 this connection than those performed in crowded cities, 

 although abominable conditions may also exist in certain- 

 country stables. On the whole, howwever, pyogenic micro- 

 organisms are less abundant in country districts. Where 

 pathogenic germs abound surgical asepsis is less certain; 

 where they are partially eliminated by cleanliness, normal 

 success may be expected, even in veterinary surgery. 



Furthermore, the skin of the hairy domestic mammals 

 may badly defeat the most painstaken technique. Exper- 



