The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-22
VALUE OF ANTIsEPSIs
HOW SURGERY HAS BEEN ADVANCED
BY THIS PRACTICE.

of Supstroke.
These last 90 years surgery has been
advancing at an almost yertiginous pace,
and its progress and improvement are
due to the universal practice of antisepsis
and to the adoption of proper dressings.
The most daring operations arc now
crowned with success, and different Wis
cera which had previously been carefully
avoided by surgeons are treated safely
and to the welfare of the patients. 1t is
an every day occurrence to sec the alb
domlnal cavity opened either to remove
tumor or to make some operation on the
1ntestines. The brain is laid bare to free
IL from some compression from which it
is suffering or to open an abscess and give
free exit TO the pus. Under all these
circumstances the surgeon intervenes
with perfect security when he has mi
nutely taken the necessary precautions
to protect the wound he creates from in
lection by germs.
These dangerous germs are both with
In the patients and about them, and for
this reason it is absolutely indispensable
to dlsinfect the spot that the operation
is to affect and also everything connect
ed with the operator, his instruments or
assistants. AS for the germs floating in
the atmosphere, some surgeons endeavor
to counteract their effect by spraying
antiseptic liquids about the room during
the operation. The point to be guarded
against above all others is infection of
the seat of intervention, and this can be
accomplished by destroying the germs
that may have already invaded it or by
closing up all access to it Oh the part Of
those that may he about it, The former
can be effected by the use of antisepsis
and the latter by ascpsis.
Complications arising from lirearm
wounds seem to result from the action
OF germs which are not carried by the
proJcctiles, as might be supposed at first
thought, but by the patients clothing
In one of the late meetings of the Societe
Imperio-Royalc DIES Medecins dc Vienne,
M. Habart reported the experiments he
had undertaken ~ this connection with
M. Faulhabcr concerning the infection
of fircarm wounds. These two inyesti-
gators, using regulation rifles, fired at
boxes of gelatin, of which some were
sterlized or covered with steriized blot
ting paper, others surrounded with pieces
of old uniforms and others with pieces
of uniforms dipped i'll pure cultures of
staphylococci. In the first case the
track of the bullet remained asceptic;
in the second were found, in addition to
pieces of cloth, a variety of microbes,
while i'll the third the boxes contained
nothing but staphylococci
In short, Il bullet striking the body of
soldier or piece Of shell entering his
flesh stands every chance of creating
an infected wound. 1t is therefore i'm
.perative to treat all wounds in wartime
antiscptically, and we owe a great debt
to the different authorities who in time
of peace are preparing a sufficient stock
of packages of dressing to supply each
soldier or officer on the day war may
break out. This small package of dress
ing with which each soldier is to be fur
nished is to be placed, i'll the French
army, III II pocket specially prepared for
IT. and is certain TO render great scrv-
ices, whether used by the wounded man
himself or by the ambulance corps.
However temporary this rcmelymay be,
1t will still have the advantage of sup
plying the reSimental surgeon with al
Must enough dressings for the first de-
mands on the battlefields without his
having to make use of his stores, and it
will rapidly place the wounds ont of
reach of the danger of infection arising
from contact with clothing, hands or
the ground.
A German army surgeon, NJ. Koerfcr,
has been testing the value of limitations
OF chloroform i'll the cerebro-spinal form
of sunstroke, and i'll the case of two SOL
dlers very seriously affected with uncon-
seriousness, convulsions, hyperesthesia
Of the skin, livid skin and weakened
pulse, the prolonged administration of
chloroform succeeded in putting an end
to all the symptoms. The favorable
effect of the chloroform showed itself
as soon as its use was commenced by
marked Improvement in the pulse, but
the commissions did not cease altogether
until the narcosis had been kept up for
an hour and quarter in one case and
for quarter of an hour in the other.
q The use of cold water and hypodermic
injections of ether. to which recourse
was had i'll the first case, where the
symptoms were particularly serious and
before the chloroform was tried, were
found to be powerless and to have no
other effect than to bring on or increase
the convulsive attacks each time they
were tried. With this patient M. Koer-
fer also made All injection OF two cent?
grams of morphine toward the end of
the chloroform seance, and when the
man began to come out from the effect
of the chloroform he fell asleep again
under the influence of the morphine, and
on awakening finally the convulsive at
tacks had entirelv disoDDoorod