Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The surgery of the head and neck / by Levi Cooper Lane. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![communicated to man. It may attack the mouth, jaws, tonsils, alimentary canal, lungs, and skin. It arises oftenest in the jaws of animals, and the starting point in them is usually a decayed tooth. Men who have tlie care of such diseased animals are sometimes infected with actinomycosis. The inoculation may occur in the mucous membrane of the mouth, or in the skin. It begins as a circumscribed, nodular induration, which finally suppurates and the pus contains small yellow grains the size of a pin's head, and visible to tlie eye. When one of these granules is flattened and examined microscopically, it will be found to contain star-shaped figures. From the center of these actinoid bodies proceed club-like branches, and the arrangement of these branches is often such tliat the figure resembles a rosette. This fungoid parasite belongs to the family of hypomycetes or molds. It is believed to develop by means of spores. It should be treated by excision, cauterization, and administration of large doses of iodide of potassium. After this brief description of the chief bacteriological agencies which are recognized as the causal entities of certain surgical affections, the subject of Antisepsis and Asepsis will be considered, by which the surgeon can prevent the admission of bacteria into the field of his opei'ative work, or can render those inert which exist there. Should the means known as antiseptic and aseptic be omitted, then a condition named sepsis arises in the wounded structures. This is due to the development of bacteria and the action of tlieir toxic derivatives on the tissues exposed to them. In the subject of such morbid action, there are increase of temperature, accelerated heat, coated tongue, and diminution of the normal secretions. The patient is physically ill at ease. The doctrine of antisepsis and its application in the treat- ment of wounds originated with Joseph Lister, about 1870. Lister believed that wuunds w-ere infected through contact with air which contained pathogenic germs. And Jiis early treatment consisted in disinfecting the air in the field of his operation. And this was done by generating an antiseptic spray or cloud, in which both surgeon and ])atient were enveloped. This method was in vogue for a period; but it was abandoned when it was determined that the air contains very few pathogenic microbes; and the few which are thence derived may be destroyed by phagocytosis, or rendered inert by the cells of the living tissues. Lister's dressing of wounds was complex, and consisted, in the main, of several layers of gauze which were permeated with carbolic acid. Between this and the wound was interposed a layer of specially prepared oiled silk, which was](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21215406_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
