PRACTICAL ANTISEPSIS IN SURGERY. 
797 
This being the pinnacle of perfection, let us briefly consider 
the conditions that are necessary for its success. Healing by 
primary or immediate union depends upon three conditions, 
namely . Asepsis, coaptation of the parts, and physiological 
rest. The healing of a wound by primary union might be 
likened to the erection of an edifice upon a tripod ; if one or 
more of the legs of the tripod are broken, down comes the 
structure. Asepsis, coaptation and physiological rest form the 
tripod that sustains healing by immediate union, and the least 
defect in either of them renders such an union an impossibility. 
The conditions necessary for healing by secondary intention 
is that the wound be kept aseptic. 
The surgeon of the human school can usually acquire an 
aseptic wound through the use of a disinfected operating room 
sterilized instruments and dressings, close attention to the disl 
infection of the person of the patient, its clothing, bedding, etc., 
and of himself and his assistants ; by means of position, liga¬ 
tion, torsion and wiping he can control haemorrhage, free the 
wound of blood clots and serum ; and with sutures, buried and 
otherwise, he can usually coapt the parts ; uniting muscle to 
muscle, tendon to tendon, and bone to bone. And through the 
submissive and usually assisting disposition of the patient sup¬ 
ported by bandages, splints, etc., he can generally secure the 
necessary physiological rest. But veterinary practice pre¬ 
sents a field strikingly in contrast to that of the surgeon of 
mankind. 
The veterinary surgeon may be so fortunately situated as to 
have all of the accessories to his work as favorable to good 
results as the surgeon in human practice, but when it comes to 
the patient, instead of having a usually submissive and assisting 
subject, he has a defensive combatant from start to finish. But 
to the ordinary veterinary surgeon, with his patient cast on the 
windy side of a barn upon some old musty hay or straw, or, as 
more frequently is the case, on the bare ground, which is either 
muddy or dusty, with no opportunity for properly disinfecting 
the body of his patient, with dirty assistants and the gentle 
