SKIN DISINFECTION AND WOUND INFECTION. 
511 
Williams for his hearty cooperation and for furnishing material 
from his surgical clinic. 
In the first application of bacteriology to comparative medi¬ 
cine, it was natural that investigations should have been made 
respecting the etiology of the more serious epizootic diseases. 
However, the significance of bacteria in wound infection claimed 
early attention in human surgery, and it is along the line of 
asepsis that the teachings of bacteriology are, at the present 
time, accomplishing, perhaps, the greatest amount of good. In 
veterinary surgery, however, antisepsis and asepsis seem to have 
received less attention than they rightfully demand. The fact 
is recognized that the domesticated animals are, as a class, less 
susceptible to invading micro-organisms than man and conse¬ 
quently the cause for the quite prevalent assertion among prac¬ 
titioners that in the lower animals there is little or no need for 
antiseptic precautions. Nevertheless, the not uncommon infec¬ 
tions with serious loss warrant an inquiry into the entire sub¬ 
ject of skin disinfection as applied to these animals. 
My attention was first called to the desirability of a better 
knowledge of the bacteria of the skin and the efficiency of some 
commonly used disinfectants in studying the cause of certain 
lesions following surgical operations where the prescribed dis¬ 
infecting methods were carefully followed. An inquiry into the 
source of the bacterial findings in chronic lesions more distant 
from the seat of skin laceration or injury, but which seemed 
to be traceable to them, suggested still further the importance of 
this knowledge. The more interesting of these chronic dis¬ 
orders of a local nature, were those commonly known as scir¬ 
rhous cord or botryomycosis, omphlalophlibitis, infectious cellu¬ 
litis in cattle, the commonly so-called u foot rot ” of sheep and 
other though similar abnormal conditions. In taking all of 
these disorders into the list of wound infections, it is necessary 
to include as wounds, all lacerations, incisions, and punctures of 
the skin, whether of sufficient size to be detected or not. It will 
be seen that it does not always seem to be necessary to have even 
a puncture, as blows or intense straining of the integument may 
