Three Cases of Antiseptic Surgery

a height, with his left arm doubled up under his body. Not finding his usual medical attendant at home, he came to the General Hospital, where I saw him at about 6-30 a.m. I found he had sustained a compound fracture of the forearm, the ulna being broken, about the middle and the radius rather lower down, there being a jagged wound immediately over the seat of the latter fracture which communicated with the broken bone. To avoid repetition I shall describe pretty fully the way in which this wound was treated, and this description will apply, with some slight modifications, to the rest of the cases under consideration. After the forearm had been thoroughly washed with a 1 to 40 solution of carbolic acid and water, the wound was well syringed out with the same solution, a spray-of which was kept up while this was being done. The spray being still kept up, all the fluid was gently squeezed out of the wound, and the antiseptic dressings applied in the following manner:?Next the raw surface a piece of Mr. Lister's "protective" was placed, and above that about six folds of antiseptic muslin, which were made to completely envelope the forearm, and between the outer two layers of which a piece of waterproofing was inserted.* A muslin bandage completed the dressing, and the forearm was then placed between two narrow wooden splints. The after-treatment in this case was very simple. The dressings were left undisturbed for six days, during which the patient had no fever whatever, a perfectly clean tongue, and otherwise manifested no signs of having received a severe in-