The principles of antisepsis are well understood by the profession, and the methods employed to avoid septic infection are fairly uniform, but, since infection not infrequently occurs as the result of an imperfection in our antiseptic detail, it is well for us occasionally to discuss the subject and to criticise our methods, that we may reject the bad and adopt the good.
The most important point in the prevention of operative infection, of course, is to keep our hands out of septic matter for a considerable period of time before operating, because it is a physical impossibility to remove all infective material from the deeper layers of the cuticle.
If by looking through a strong lens we magnify the skin of the hand to the extent that the epithelial scales assume the size of the ordinary fish scales, and magnify also the bristles of the nail brush in proportion, it