86 WOUND TREATMENT 



to twenty minutes for these to cool off, and this time 

 can be utilized in preparing the patient. 



This is a general plan that every country practitioner 

 should follow sacredly. The unfortunate sequences of 

 many of my country operations during past years I 

 attribute to this source of infection. Suppuration ga- 

 lore, surgical septicemia, malignant edema, tetanus, peri- 

 tonitis, and other consequences following operations that 

 one has taken especial pains to do well may often he 

 traced to had judgment in providing the solutions. 



The best plan the country veterinarian can lay down 

 as a start for better surgery is the use of the housewife's 

 wash boiler in the manner mentioned above. 



In hospital operations sterilized water is more easy to 

 procure. It can be stored in large bottles ready for use, 

 and the instrument sterilizer should be large enough to 

 sterilize the basins into which the water is poured. Too 

 much dependence must not be placed in the hot water 

 from the hot-water tank even though it comes out steam- 

 ing hot. Tank water whose temperature is maintained 

 around 200 degrees Fahrenheit for hours is, however, 

 safe enough for ordinary surgical work. 



Sutures 



The certainty of wound infection from unsterilized 

 sutures is due largely to the fact that they sojourn so 

 long in the injured tissues. The bacteria they carry 

 always find a favorable environment for growth in the 

 enfeebled tissues they hold together, and even when 

 sterilized and placed with exceptional care, stitch sup- 

 puration may develop from skin bacteria that cannot 

 be dislodged in the preparation of the surgical field. 



On these accounts sutures in veterinary operations 

 call for special methods of handling. They must first 



