512 
VERANUS A. MOORE. 
be sufficient to liberate into the living tissues bacteria deeply 
seated in the ducts of glands and possibly the hair follicles of 
the skin. The problem before us, then, resolves itself into 
three quite distinct parts, namely : 
1. The determination of the bacterial flora of the skin. 
2. The finding of the degree of efficiency of different disin¬ 
fectants when applied to the integument. 
3. The finding of the species of bacteria which produce the 
more chronic disorders here included in wound infection. 
In starting with the existing methods of preparing the field 
for operation, we find practically the same procedure recom¬ 
mended in veterinary as in human surgery. It is desirable, 
therefore, to compare the structure of, and the bacteria of the 
skin of man and of the horse in order to determine whether or 
not the method prescribed for the first is equally suited to the 
second. If we follow the results of the every-day operations 
there seems to be more frequently in veterinary than in human 
surgery either acute wound infection or more chronic and possi¬ 
bly metastatic lesions of a more or less serious nature. The 
question whether this is due to the operator, or, bacteriologically 
speaking, ill considered methods, is waiting for an answer. It 
is also true that veterinary surgeons who follow the prescribed 
course very largely avoid these otherwise common sequences, but 
it is for the prevention of the occasional failure that the best 
methods are striving. 
In comparing the structure of the skin, we will at this time 
mention but two features which suggest greater difficulty in 
preparing the operative field in the horse than in man, namely, 
(1) the presence of a thicker layer of dead epithelium, and (2) 
longer and deeper seated glands and hair follicles. 
Investigations concerning the bacteria of the human skin 
have been carefully made by a number of workers, among whom 
may be mentioned Bizzozero*, Mittmanf, UnnaJ, Fiirbringer§, 
* Virchow’s Archiv. Bd. 98. 
f Ibid. Bd. 113. 
•j; Monatshefte fur praktische Dermatologie 1889-1890-1891 
# Disinfection d. Hiinde d. Arzter Wiesbaden, 1888. 
