PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 483 



ways a complication of wounds, efforts should always be 

 made to prevent .the infection of traumatisms by the bacillus 

 of Nicolaier. The antiseptic precautions render the execu- 

 tion of this recommendation possible and reduce the chances 

 of infection. As tetanus spores strongly resist antiseptics 

 they are hard to destroy, but Vaillard's experiment has 

 shown that the spores are harmless without being associated 

 with other bacteria, and as these are more vulnerable, they 

 can be destroyed by antiseptics. The tetanus spores thus 

 deprived of the aid of the associated bacterian species be- 

 come the prey of the leucocytes. 



Accidental wounds soiled with earth, straw or dung, so 

 often tetanigenic, should be cleaned, irrigated carefully, puri- 

 fied, rid of foreign bodies and freely submitted to the action 

 of antiseptics. Anfractuous wounds with bloody infiltration 

 and necrosis of the tissues should be surgically renovated 

 and then appropriately protected against subsequent infec- 

 tion with surgical dressings. Operating tetanus is prevented 

 by using only sterilized instruments and dressiiigs. Cases 

 of enzootic tetanus following castration are thus prevented. 



Accidental or surgical wounds that cannot be properly 

 disinfected must be prevented from causing tetanus by the 

 use of antitetanic serum, which will positively prevent the 

 evolution of the disease. 



Nocard has experimented with the serum, and he has 

 published results obtained by a number of veterinarians, 

 which confirm his experimental data. He relates the treat- 

 ment of 2,705 animals, of which 2,373 were horses, donkeys 

 or mules, 44 bulls, 82 rams or lambs, and 206 hogs. Each of 

 these animals received two injections of the serum at twelve 

 days interval, 20 c.c. for big animals and 6 to 10 c.c. for the 

 sheep and hogs. The inoculations all followed either an ac- 

 cidental or surgical wound. Among these 2,705 animals, 

 2,300 of them received the first inoculation immediately after 



