The treatment of wounds, ulcers, and abscesses.

  • Cheyne, William Watson, Sir, 1852-1932.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of wounds, ulcers, and abscesses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    thing like ten times the number was necessary in order to produce a general and fatal infection of the animal. And this same law holds good with regard to all the pathogenic bacteria which have as yet been tested, namely, that in animals not particularly suscep- tible to a disease, a small number of organisms may be introduced without doing any harm, a somewhat larger number will produce a local lesion, and a still larger number will be required in order to lead to a general infection. And this is no doubt the chief explanation of the comparatively good results which are obtained by many surgeons at the present day who do not employ means to absolutely exclude all organisms from the wounds. Although they do not act rigidly in this respect, they nevertheless cleanse the parts and the instruments, &c., to a considerable extent, and thus reduce the number of organisms which aie left in the wound, and consequently diminish their subsequent effect. Among other conditions in connection with the action of these organisms may be mentioned their virulence, for they apparently vary in virulence at different times, and the more virulent they are, the smaller the number which will be required to produce the effect. Further, the entrance of different kinds at the same time increases their action, because, even though some 9