The relation of bacteria to practical surgery : the address in surgery delivered before the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, June 4, 1890 / by John B. Roberts.
- John Bingham Roberts
- Date:
- 1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The relation of bacteria to practical surgery : the address in surgery delivered before the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, June 4, 1890 / by John B. Roberts. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![use of those chemical agents which destroy the bacteria not removed by cleanliness itself (antisepsis). Surgical cleauliness differs from the housewife's idea of cleanliness in that its details seem frivolous, because it aims at the removal of microscopic particles. Stains, such as house- wives abhor, if germ-free, are not objected to in surgery. The hands and arms, and especially the finger-nails of the surgeon, assistants, and nurses should be well scrubbed with hot water and soap, by means of a nail-brush, immediately before the operation. The patient’s body about the site of the proposed operation should be similarly scrubbed with a brush and cleauly shaved. Subsequently the hands of the operator, assistants and nurses, and the field of operation should be immersed in, or thoroughly washed with, corrosive sublimate solution (1:1000 or 1:2000). Finger-rings, brace- lets, bangles, and cuffs worn by the surgeon, assistants, or nurses must be removed before the cleansing is begun; and the clothing covered by a clean white apron, large enough to extend from neck to ankles and provided with sleeves. The instruments should be similarly scrubbed with hot water and soap, and all particles of blood and pus from any previous operation removed from the joints. After this they should be immersed for at least fifteen minutes in a solution of beta-napbthol (1 : 2500), which must be sufficiently deep to cover every portion of the instruments. After cleansing the instruments with soap and water, baking in a temperature a little above the boiling-point of water is the best sterilizer. During the operation the sterilized instruments should be kept in a beta-naphthol solution and returned to it when the operator is not using them. [The antiseptic solutions mentioned here are too irritating for use in operations within the abdomen and pelvis. Water made sterile by boiling is usually the best agent for irrigating these cavities, and for use on instruments and sponges. The instruments and sponges must be previously well sterilized.] Sponges should be kept in a beta-naphthol or a corrosive sublimate solution during the operation. After the blood from the wound has been sponged away, they should be put in another basin containing the antiseptic solution, and cleansed anew before being used again. The antiseptic sutures and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22380620_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
