18 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
So the battle may rage for weeks and months. The bacteria 
may multiply and increase in virulence, sometimes they secrete 
special poisons or “‘aggressins’’ which paralyse the marching 
power of the phagocyte, sometimes they protect themselves with 
special armour or ‘“‘ capsules’ which render them impermeable 
to the action of the blood plasma. The phagocytes may 
perish in millions, and the railways leading to the battle-field 
become blocked with the dead, and the tissues rot away, and 
the body become poisoned, and die. Victory goes to the 
strong, that is the law of Nature. 
Fortunately for us, however, the body is usually victorious 
in the struggle ; if it is structurally healthy it has one great 
asset which makes for victory, every cell, every organ does 
its utmost to assist in repelling the imvader. There is 
— National Service and no Trades Umon Restrictions ! 
The same principles hold in the treatment and recovery 
of wounds received on the battle-field. Many of the clean 
perforations caused by the modern high velocity rifle bullet 
are practically sterile, but the ragged wounds made by shrapnel 
and high explosives are invariably infected by multitudes of 
bacteria, some derived from the mud and dirt with which 
the soldiers are often covered, others from fragments of clothing 
‘which are frequently driven into the wound. 
The field dressings, which consist of antiseptic gauze 
soaked in a solution of iodine, are applied partly to stop the 
haemorrhage, partly to prevent. more microbes from outside 
entering the wound, and partly to try and kill some of those 
already introduced. Later, the hospital surgeon removes as 
many of the bacteria as possible by washing, perhaps with 
antiseptics ; or allows them to escape freely by drainage. 
It may appear a simple matter to kill the bacteria with . 
antiseptics like mercury, carbolic, lysol, etc., but m practice 
many antiseptics do more harm than good for they destroy 
the phagocytes and antibodies in the plasma as well as the 
