SKIN DISINFECTION AND WOUND INFECTION. 
wound infection in careless or unscientific work, but in modern 
surgery such accidents should, at the most, be exceedingly rare. 
In a few cases which I have examined the infective lesions have 
followed operations where the usual method of disinfecting the 
skin was observed, the hands of the operator cleansed and 
washed in bichloride, and the instruments boiled just prior to 
their use. While this does not exclude external infection, it 
suggests either errors in methods, or the presence of the infect¬ 
ing micro-organisms in the skin of the patient, from whence 
they were carried into the wound. 
The selective power on the part of the horse, or better, per¬ 
haps, that only a certain few species of bacteria which may gain 
entrance to the fresh living tissues can survive, seems to be 
well established. This power, if you please so to put it, is well 
illustrated in case of navel-ill, where the infection unquestion¬ 
ably comes from without and where many species of bacteria 
are brought into competition. I will describe briefly one of the 
cases which I have examined to exemplify the point in question. 
A colt, about three weeks old. It was in good condition and seemed 
to be perfectly well excepting for the diseased joints. Killed for exam¬ 
ination. The umbilical vein, from the umbilicus to the liver, was dis¬ 
tended with blood, pus cells and bacteria. All of the internal organs 
appeared to be normal. In both knee joints and one hock joint there 
was extensive suppuration. A bacteriological examination showed the 
umbilical vein to contain many species of bacteria, among which maybe 
mentioned B. coli communis , Micrococcus pyogenes aureus and a strepto¬ 
coccus. One of several tubes of media inoculated from the liver devel¬ 
oped the streptococcus, the others remained clean. All media inocula¬ 
ted from the heart blood, spleen, kidneys and glands remained sterile. 
All of the media inoculated with the pus from the joints gave pure cul¬ 
tures of the streptococcus. 
The cases of navel-ill which I have seen in lambs were due 
to an infection with a bacillus belonging to the colon group. 
The lesions were subcutaneous and intermuscular suppurative 
cellulitis. 
The lesions known as botryomycosis are from the etiologi¬ 
cal standpoint the most interesting of those here included in 
wound infections. The cases which form the basis for these 
