AjanJZyPi897rm-}        Modern  Surgical  Dressings.  27 
bers.  Skin,  hair  and  mucous  membranes,  even  of  persons  who  are 
healthy  and  of  cleanly  habits,  furnish  to  bacteria  a  natural  home  for 
growth  and  multiplication. 
In  catarrhal  conditions,  skin  disease,  or  wherever  there  is  an 
increase  of  secretions,  the  bacteria  of  the  body  increase  both  in  kind 
and  in  number.  These  sources  of  infection  require  more  than  ordi- 
nary attention. 
Sterilization  of  the  entire  surface  of  the  body  is  impossible.  Yet 
we  are  confronted  with  the  fact  that  the  skin  secretions,  perspira- 
tion, dandruff  from  the  hair,  all  mucous  secretions,  are  a  fruitful 
source  of  infectious  particles,  fatal  to  asepsis  if  by  any  chance  they 
should  be  transferred  to  the  dressing.  To  even  touch  an  aseptic 
dressing  with  hands  not  disinfected,  to  touch  with  prepared  hands 
the  eyes,  nose,  mouth  or  clothing,  and  then  touch  a  dressing,  would 
mean  that  infection  would  surely  follow.  Such  a  procedure  would 
be  an  unpardonable  violation  of  surgical  cleanliness,  a  crime  against 
asepsis.  We  must  further  take  into  account  that  the  objects  within 
the  room  where  dressings  may  be  prepared,  including  the  air,  the 
walls,  furniture,  floors,  the  tables  upon  which  the  dressings  are  laid 
every  piece  of  apparatus,  every  object  of  any  nature  that  may  come 
in  contact  with  the  dressing,  may  be  the  means  of  transference  of 
germ  life.  If  such  objects  happen  to  be  of  the  nature  of  organic 
material  or  those  which  hold  moisture,  the  more  readily  do  they 
become  carriers  of  infection. 
The  maker  of  surgical  dressings  must  have  in  mind,  therefore, 
the  materials  of  which  the  dressings  are  composed,  that  they  are  in 
their  nature  absorptive  of  infectious  particles,  that  all  objects  con- 
nected with,  all  surrounding  conditions,  are  sources  through  which 
infection  may  be  carried  to  dressings  during  their  handling  and 
manipulation. 
The  Disinfection  of  Dressings. — Whatever  the  term  disinfection 
has  been  made  to  mean  elsewhere,  when  applied  to  surgical  dress- 
ings it  can  only  mean  one  thing — destruction  of  all  micro-organisms 
in  or  upon  the  material.  This  process  presents  many  varying  prob- 
lems. Bacteria  show  widely  varying  powers  of  resistance.  Agents 
which  destroy  growing  forms  will  not  affect  the  vitality  of  their 
spores.  The  conditions  of  life  and  environment  are  all  factors  which 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  the  disinfection  of  dressings.  Thus, 
utensils  and  objects  with  smooth  surfaces  are  readily  disinfected, 
