The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-04-20
Infection Of Wounds by Perspiration
of the Hands.

VI. H. Ga0cvct has adopted this method o;
steiil1ing his hands for surgical procedures:
Washing and scrubb'ng with soap and water for
fifteen minutes, then washing with a pad Of
stcrilizcd gau2e implegnaicd with ether, then
Iiising them with nincty-iivc per cent alcohol,
and finally washing them with sterlized water
Tor five minutes. NO cultures could be obtained
from the hands after this method of disinfection
But when the hands were made to peIsp;re freely
after such washing, tine transpred fluid always
yielded pure and virulent culture OF the Sta
phylococcus slbts. The author concludes: ID
that il is possible to obtain absolute sterili1a-
ton OF the hands, t2) that AZ soon AS peIspi-
ration OF The hands begins, infection OF the
wound is possible; 60 that, as il is impossible
TO disnfect the operative area, the lips OF the
cuancous wound should always be protected:
G) disnfection OF the hands should be completed
by their immersion Tor ten minutes in a two
per cent solution OF tannn To inhibit the sweat
ing; (5I gloves should he worn in septic opera
tions where mere manual deNterity is not an i'm
portant iaotor.-N. Y. Medical Journal
BY close calculation this washing OF hands,
which OF course is but one OF the items in the
preparation OF the modern surgeon Tor an ordln.
aly everyday operation,would occupy "a minutes,
time enough for the patient to die ii the case
is one Of urgency time enough to perform
most of tho ordinary everyday operations that
the practitioner is called upon to perform irom
beginning TO end. 1t is we'll enough and advis.
able that a surgeon should have clean hands
when operating, but he should not forget that
his time is simply wasted when, as so frequently
happens, drops of perspiriion iali from his brow
,lnnotced by him into the open wound during an
operation. "Cleanlincss is next to gOdiness,'
~ Stern in his llonlS III Devotion says, but IL
Can hardly be placed nest 10 SodlincsS when il il
carried TO such an extreme hy the surgeon that
he neelects 10 have his instruments Of the best
Quality, sharp and in perfect working order in
his efforts 10 have them and everything else
clean and Stcrilzed, II is refreshing to hear
such a man us Prof Warton in Popular Science
News express his opinion and reflect the opinion
Of many other Independent thinkers on the sub
cct when he says: There is great danger oi
.Iic meteorological croAe landing its dcvotces in
quagmirc, from which sXtrication will be diIli.
lulC ii not impossible without less OF prestige.
The earnest investigation; are prone, in their en-.
husasm, to take too much Tor granted Uhe wish
icing father to the thonghO, aud il will not br
1t all surprising 10 ind that many steps vii!
nave to be relIacod, many Ingenious and plomis.
ne thcoreS abandoned II should be home in
nind that microscopic lie is in the main henc,
icent 10 humanity; that the varieties associated
with disease are comparatively few, by compar |
ou with the others, and that in the case OF the
bacteria that have Deen definitely identied with |
specific diseases, ii has never bccn satisfactorily |
Demonstrated that they the cause and not thc
'rOduct in such cases oi disease. Although Soruc
acts are positively known in bacteriology, yrt |
he conclusions drawn non them are mainly con
uytural; aud in this, as in other fields. it is |
lot At all unlikely thai the next generation VII |
zee the preS,ut teachings thrown out and a |
general rcclstng of theories take place" |