ASEPSIS AND ANTISEPSIS. 
629 
given to the skill displayed in the operating and mechanical 
part, with little or no intelligent care and after-treatment. Fully 
as much attention should be given to aseptic and antiseptic pre¬ 
cautions and methods, for the science of bacteriology has taught 
us the relations of micro-organisms to the disturbances of wound 
healing and the importance of preventing infection in simple as 
well as in extensive wounds ; therefore, asepsis and antisepsis are 
at the very foundation of all routine manipulations and opera¬ 
tions, if science is the handmaid of our art. 
Aseptic wounds include all which are preserved from con¬ 
tamination or infection of any kind. An aseptic condition in a 
wound may be obtained either by the protection the wound re¬ 
ceived from the first against the access of any septic agent, or 
by the power of living tissues to resist and destroy septic agents, 
or by the application to the wound of substances which destroy 
them. As long as asepsis is maintained no decomposition of the 
secretions or tissues take place, no .sloughing of killed or partly 
killed tissue occurs. When the proper cares to favor the nutri¬ 
tion of the wounded tissue are rendered, the healing of the 
wound progresses without pain, inflammation, or suppuration, 
and the least possible amount of cicatricial tissue is produced. 
To secure an aseptic condition, or to approach it as nearly as 
possible, is the first and most important indication in all our 
surgical work and treatments. 
Septic wounds include all in which any agent capable of 
exciting tissue irritation and cell necrosis lodges and grows. 
They may present the most widely different degrees of wound 
disturbances dependent upon the varying conditions which the 
special wound may present, and upon the character of the treat¬ 
ment which is instituted, but in all cases they are attended with 
some degree of inflammation and suppuration, and with slough¬ 
ing of dead tissue. The septic agent may be introduced by the 
body that inflicts the wound, or by the dressings that are ap¬ 
plied, or may be among the dust particles that float in the air 
to which it is exposed. In very rare cases, it may be conveyed to 
the wound through the blood of the animal sustaining the wound. 
