14 
W. B. NILES. 
DISINFECTANTS IN VETERINARY PRACTICE. • 
By W. B. Niles, D.Y.M. 
(Read before the Iowa State Veterinary Medical Association.) 
I call your attention to this class of drugs, not because 
they are not generally used by veterinarians, but because 
through some fault in their application good results do not 
in many cases follow their use. 
Disinfectants are especially indicated in two classes of 
cases, viz.: ist, in operative surgery for the disinfectiQn of 
instruments, liands of operator, and parts to be operated on ; 
and 2d, in the treatment of suppurating wounds. In regard to 
the first, it may be said that while it is not as easy for us as it 
is for the M.D. to perform an aseptic operation, we can in 
many instances do so. To operate, however, in this way the 
utmost care is necessary. While we know that suppura¬ 
tion does not depend alone upon the presence of pus 
microbes in the tissues, we also know that this process will 
not occur without they are present. To exclude them we 
must disinfect our instruments, hands, and in fact everything 
which comes in contact with the wound, as well as the skin 
covering the seat of operation. 
For the disinfection of instruments, nothing is better than 
a few minutes boiling in water, to which has been added a 
little carbonate of soda, to prevent rusting. Lister, the father 
of antiseptic surgery, still adheres to the use of carbolic acid, 
and disinfects his instruments by placing them in a twenty 
per cent, solution of the acid. The hands of the operator can 
be prepared according to the method of Dr. Welch, of the 
Johns-Hopkins University, i.e., by washing in a saturated 
solution of per-manganate of potash, then decolorizing in an 
oxalic acid solution, and lastly washing in a bi-chloride 
solution i to 1,000; or, in place of the bi-chloride solution, 
carbolic acid or lysol can be employed. A thorough scrub¬ 
bing with soap and water should precede the per-manganate 
wash, particular attention being paid to the space beneath the 
nails. The skin covering the seat of operation should be 
