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DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
will usually serve the purpose. But when they fail actual 
cautery must be resorted to. 
Aside from heat, boiling water and soap and water, which, 
in fact, are the most useful agents in antiseptic treatment, the 
following chemical substances are recommended as the most 
suitable antiseptics for veterinary purposes : 
1. Mercuric chlorid solutions from i% to 5%. 
2. Iodoform. 
(a) Iodoform sugar 5%. 
(< b ) Iodoform ether 5% to 10%. 
(c) Iodoform tannin 5% to 50%. 
3. Europhen. 
4. Carbolic acid 1% to 10%. 
5. Boric acid. 
6. Clilorozone 20% to 100%. 
7. Zinc chlorid 1% to 5%. 
Epitome. 
1. Antiseptic wound treatment was first practised by Sir 
Joseph Lister, an English surgeon, in 1867. The principles he 
advocated and practiced have not changed to this day, but the 
details of their application have changed with the advance¬ 
ment made in surgical pathology. 
2. Antiseptic treatment is not practiced to the extent it 
should be in veterinary surgery, largely because (1) surgery has 
not been taught as it should have been in the veterinary col¬ 
leges, (2) even the leading veterinarians have heretofore dis¬ 
missed the subject as impractical if not impossible, and (3) 
because the veterinarian is still harboring the false impression 
that the remuneration for surgical operations does not warrant 
the bother. 
3. Antiseptic treatment is both possible and practical in 
most surgical operations and under most circumstances. It is 
seldom impossible and impractical to be clean, and cleanliness 
is about 90% of the battle. 
4. The advantages of clean surgery are :—(1) The healing 
is prompt and therefore the patient is at work much earlier. 
(2) Septic diseases are obviated and hence deaths are fewer. 
(3) Operations which would cause death by the old method can 
be safely performed. (4) It induces the exercise of greater 
care and hence enhances the skill of the surgeon. (5) Its gen¬ 
eral adoption will be an important factor in the evolution of the 
veterinary profession. 
5. The disadvantages are :—-(1) The time required to pre- 
