id="Page_17" class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="[Pg 17]"/> of pus cells and mucous cells. The gonococci cannot be cultivated upon ordinary media, but grow best upon human-blood serum. Gonococci stain easily and are readily decolorized by Gram’s method.

The bacillus coli communis, or the bacillus of Escherich, is invariably found in the fæces. It is believed by many observers to be the cause of appendicitis, peritonitis, and abscesses about the intestine. In cases of appendicitis we can rarely get a pure culture of Escherich’s bacillus, but usually find also streptococci and staphylococci.

The bacillus of typhoid fever (Eberth’s bacillus) is responsible for some cases of gangrene, for some of embolism and for not a few bone and joint diseases.

The bacillus tuberculosis (Koch’s bacillus), the cause of all tubercular processes, is met with especially in dusty air which contains the dried sputum of victims of tuberculosis. This infected air is the chief means of its transmission, though it may be conveyed by the milk of tubercular cows and by the meat of tubercular animals. Wounds may open a gateway for infection.

The bacillus tetani (Nicolaier’s bacillus), an aerobic organism, is found especially in the soil of gardens, in the dust of old buildings, in street dirt, and in the sweepings of stables. Spores develop at the ends of these bacilli. This organism is capable of producing toxins of deadly power. Its spores are hard to kill.

CHAPTER III

ASEPSIS AND ANTISEPSIS

Before the introduction of Lister’s methods of treating wounds, it was considered proper, in accidental and operative wounds, to have profuse suppuration, pyemia, erysipelas, etc., and it was not remarkable, therefore, that the mortality following accidental and operative wounds was very high. Lister’s method of wound treatment was largely based upon the conception that the infection of wounds occurred from contact with the air which contained spores and germs, and his method of treatment therefore, was directed chiefly to their destruction. The air can be a medium of wound infection to a certain extent, and dry air contains more spores and bacteria than moist air, but Koch demonstrated the fact that atmospheric microbes were chiefly of innocuous character, and wound infection usually could be traced to bacteria or spores being brought into direct contact with wounds, by the clothing, or by the skin of the patient, or by the hands of the surgeon, or by unclean surgical instruments and dressings. The antiseptic qualities of the blood serum and cell activities in healthy tissues, are sufficient to destroy or remove a certain number of microorganisms, and suppuration occurs only when the tissues are completely overwhelmed by the number of these organisms or when their power of resistance is lessened by injury or disease.

Sepsis. Sepsis is due to the entrance and multiplication of microbes, or to the absorption of their products in the body. Local inflammation and marked constitutional symptoms characterize sepsis.

Asepsis. Asepsis aims at thorough sterilization of the parts and of all the objects brought into contact with the wounds, and the exclusion of germs by the use of occlusive bandages and dressings.

Antisepsis is that method of wound treatment which keeps germicidal agents continuously in direct contact with the wound. Its object, therefore, is to produce asepsis. It is the duty of the surgeon to guard against the contact of microorganisms in the wound and to employ whatever means science has evolved for their destruction. He must, however, be careful to employ means of disinfection or destruction that will not have an injurious effect upon the normal tissues.

Mechanical disinfection does not apply to wounds but is employed as a preventive measure by the operator and his assistants for instruments and for the skin surrounding the wounds. Mechanical disinfection is accomplished by the use of soap and water and a friction brush; germicidal solutions of one kind or another are also employed.

In the modern aseptic operating room germicides and antiseptics do not play so important a part as they formerly did. This is largely due to the fact that heat is used wherever possible in the preparation of sutures, ligatures, dressings and instruments, and to the farther fact that in uninfected tissues no antiseptic solutions are employed. It must also be remembered that the germicidal agents possess the disadvantage of exercising a more or less destructive action on the body cells, and consequently their use is not warranted in clean wounds. We still, however, sufficiently often meet with infected wounds that render the use of these agents necessary.

Heat is the most valuable of all sterilizing agents, its only drawback being that it is not universally applicable. Wherever possible it should be employed in preference to chemical agents. It can be employed either dry or moist. Moist heat is a much more efficacious germicide than dry heat, for it destroys the organisms at a much lower temperature. Boiling water at a temperature of 212°F. will destroy nearly instantaneously all pus-producing organisms. Spores, however, require a moist heat of 284°F. kept up for at least a half-hour. A dry heat of 212°F. will not destroy pus-producing organisms under an hour and a half of treatment, and spores will live for three hours at a dry temperature of 284°F.

Although moist heat is very much quicker and more satisfactory in its action, yet it is often inconvenient to employ it in the sterilization of gowns, towels, operating suits, etc. However, sterilization by heat has been greatly facilitated by the introduction of the autoclave, by means of which a very high temperature under pressure can be obtained. This is the most satisfactory method of sterilizing dressings, towels, sheets, operating suits and aprons. A similar and less expensive method of sterilizing these articles is by the use of one of the simple steam sterilizers which are sold by all dealers. In an emergency, an ordinary bake oven can be employed as a sterilizer. It is best, however, where the temperature cannot be estimated, to boil the articles and dry them between sheets moistened with bichloride solution.

Disinfection or Sterilization. Sterilization of a wound, or of the substances coming in contact with it, may be accomplished by using the aseptic or antiseptic method; by combining these two methods we obtain the best results. The aseptic method, which employs antiseptic substances for the purpose of sterilization of objects coming in contact with the wound when their disinfection by heat is impossible, is the method perhaps most generally favored by modern surgeons.

Antiseptic Method. In the antiseptic method, the field of operation, the hands of the operator and of his assistants, and the instruments, must be treated in germicidal solution and, in addition, the wound should be frequently irrigated during the operation with a solution that has germicidal properties.

Recent investigations show that many germicidal substances have not the power that was formerly attributed to them. Furthermore, substances which are really active germicides very often produce a marked toxic effect upon the patient and produce a very decided irritation of the skin with which they come in contact.

Aseptic Methods. The aseptic method for the treatment of wounds admits of the use of germicidal solutions and heat upon the field of operation, upon the hands of the operator and of his assistants, and upon the instruments employed. After this has been accomplished, placing absolute dependence upon this sterilization, no