The Manual of Aseptic Surgery

have given rise to a misconception on my part. Secondly, with regard to ny " obvious" inference, and the error into which I have fallen thereby, I think we are here at cross-purposes. Your reviewer is perfectly right in thinking that T consider a rinse with antiseptic lotion between two dressings sufficient, with the important proviso that? the directions given above on the same page are complied with. They are that the instruments and not the fingers are used to touch septic matter, and if the fingers do touch it they should be immediately rinsed and rubbed in strong antiseptic lotion. He is equally wrong if he thinks that I consider a rinse with antiseptic lotion between two dressings sufficient?to sterilize the hands; and if his remark about the trouble of disabusing students, etc., does not carry this meaning, as its natural corollary, then I confess I do not understand its gist. He answers my question with an implied affirmative and the suggestion of a more pertinent one, and this leads to a yet more pertinent query still, viz., what method does he rely on for the sterilization of the hands, which is efficacious and can at the same time be repeatedly applied with impunity and without damage to the skin. The second condition is as important as the first, or otherwise it will defeat its own on subsequent occasions. Lastly I gather that the charge of fhconsistency with regard to the use of iodoform is based on the premise that the treatment of chronic and psoas abscesses by incision and scraping, leaves an "aseptic " wound! This conception is certainly a revelation to me. If the abscess is small and consequently thoroughly accessible, I can conceive the possibility of the practical asepsis of the resulting wound ; but in such a case 1 am glad to see we are both agreed it is best to excise it entire. Psoas abscess or other extensive chronic abscess cannot by any stretch of tliR imagination be safely included in this category, and I am content to appear inconsistent in consistency. Yours, etc.,