Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-02-26
To Clean the Hands.

To wash YOUR handS-or. rather. to
get YOUR hands clean-instead of being
the simplest is one of the most difhrult
of works The fair creature who. with
her perfumed warm water. her tastlle
SOAP her arsenal of scissors, files ana
brushes, her pate d'amandeS and white
and rose powder fancies she has made
her dimped fingers clean when she
has made them only provokinGly bcaut-
/ iful ha dirty hands still. a Conscientious
surgeon knife in hand, would r"coil
with horror from such summary
preparation. Dip those rosy fingers
into a bowl of milk and they viii
turn it. Let them touch a plaque Of
gelatine and they will plant il .Eith
fostering lamentations. Let them
touch an open wound ana they may
set up sangrene. erysipelas or hos
pital rot in ii.
Surgeons after having unwitting!y
killing tens of thousands. have at last
slowly and painfully learned the lesson
Of clean hands. This is 50 true IN
Paris that the practice is becoming
general with them to mark themselves
off as those vino do or do not operate
septic cases. for il has been found that
Il
hands may carry the microbes Of sup
puration for weeks in spite Of every
care.
When the flesh is cut open. when the
living issues-made up of myriad little
hungry individualities-is laid bare of
the protecting skin the slightest inn
pure contact may have disastrous "on-
sequences The hands with their
~. r. Iitt l.. ~, IL
folds ANA unevenncsses All microbc
hiding places. not to speak of thos"
equivocal CUTTERS beneath the finger
nails are fatally condemned to be the
collectors Of infectious germs. II
could not ~ otherwise. The hands
spend half their time Ill least. in
nalledneSs. in u world fun Of corrup
ton. In reality this corruption is life.
as pure as our own, but to us il is "er-
toinlv corruption. \ friend Of mine
only last week went, like every one
else, to be vaccinated. TWO days after
ward his arm had swollen ana become
almost black While all around tn"
angry wound there was great pain and
fever. For two days more they feared
an inilammatory tumor. or blood pni-
Soning that might result in death. And
al because tn" NaCcInatlng doctor had
not washed his hands.
Now that the craze for serums
threatens to make the little hypodermic
syringe even more of a household OBJ
ject than it had been under the reign
of mO:phia and cocaine. dirty hands.
dirty arms and legs. dirty needles and
syringes and dirty solutions may be
expected to cause frequent accidents.
1t is possible to kill yourself with a
hypodermic syringe. for blood poison
ing is always ready to set up when the
proper kind Of dirt is injected into the
system. and who knows what germs Of
disease may be sticking to the skin Of
ones body or ones hands? one of the
pernicious habitS. even of physicians
is. after Withdra wing the needle. To
press a finger over the tiny wound. or
ut least to give to ii rub. Yet this
act may result in rubbing in a microbe
or a dozen. Physicians who pass for
being careful wash the surface with
alcohol or cologne water before insert
ing the needle.
The other sensible precautions with
respect to Il hydomerc injection are to
pass the needle through a tiame-it
SHOULD be ii platinum needle-to wash