DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
889 
ing with antiseptic cotton or oakum and holding it in place with 
a stitch or two, or by packing it firmly into the orifice, and then 
spraying the whole area with iodoform ether constitutes the 
best form of occlusion. Such dressings might well be left undis¬ 
turbed for forty-eight hours after the first dressing, but subse¬ 
quently daily dressing is demanded. 
4. Poorly Drained Punctures and Fistula;. —The greater 
number of deep lesions belong to this class, for it is indeed sel¬ 
dom that a punctured wound can be provided with the best 
drainage, and as for chronic fistulse it is usually poor drainage 
that perpetuates their existence. To permit such wounds to 
secrete pus indefinitely and treat them by mere irrigation with 
antiseptic solution without attempting to sterilize them as is the 
usual course pursued in fistulse of the withers and poll-evil, 
savors of poor surgery. A successful method of cutting short 
their existence consists (1) of perfectly sterilizing every recess, 
(2) drying every recess with antiseptic cotton, (3) spraying every 
recess with iodoform ether and (4) packing every recess includ¬ 
ing the whole cavity with powdered boric acid. (The latter 
drug is selected on account of its small cost.) A w 7 ound thus 
treated is safe against intruding organisms forty-eight hours 
or even longer, when the whole process excluding the first step 
should be repeated, and then again every two or three days until 
the healing process is complete. It might be argued that such 
treatment is rather expensive in veterinary patients, but really 
it is not when one considers that the healing period is con¬ 
siderably shortened. 
On the poll, withers, acnestis and croup, the occlusion can 
be further perfected with fabric covering held in place with 
bands encircling the body, but these must always be kept clean, 
and the parts beneath the wound must never be permitted to 
accumulate the desiccated secretions. 
5. Lacerated Wounds that Cannot be Sutured , i. <?., Open 
Wound Treatment .—These wounds, which are very numerous 
in veterinary patients, must be dealt with according to their 
extent. Small ones, or mere excoriations, can be satisfactorily 
protected by dusting them repeatedly with iodoform sugar until 
an artificial scab has been formed. The larger ones prob¬ 
ably constitute the most serious of all wounds. Burnett’s 
Disinfecting Fluid, 2 per cent., Lugal’s Solution, Mercuric Chlo- 
rid, 1 per cent., Chlorozone (Gray) and Tincture Iodine, 25 per 
cent., are all useful drugs for protecting such wounds, but the 
first named is doubtless the most effectual. They are used for 
