ce lockjaw is so frequent after these
accidents, and so fatal, it is impossible to exert too much care in
treatment. The wound should at once be thoroughly opened with a knife
to the very bottom, under ether, by a surgeon, and not only every
particle of foreign matter removed, but all the surrounding tissue
should be cut out or cauterized. In addition, it is wise to use an
injection under the skin of tetanus-antitoxin, to prevent the disease.
Proper restriction of the sale of explosives alone will put a stop to
this barbarous mode of exhibiting patriotism.

=Treatment.=--It is not essential to use chemical agents or
antiseptics to rid wounds of germs and so secure uninterrupted
healing. The person who is to dress the wound should prepare to do so
at the earliest possible moment after giving first aid. He should
proceed promptly to boil some pieces of absorbent cotton, as large as
an egg, together with a nail brush in water. Some strips of clean
cotton cloth may be used in the absence of absorbent cotton. The
boiling should be conducted for five minutes, when the basin or other
utensil in which the brush and cotton are boiled should be taken off
the fire and set aside to cool. Then the attendant should scrub his
own hands for five minutes in hot water with soap and brush.

He next takes the brush, which has been boiled, out of the water and
cleans the patient's skin for a considerable distance about the wound.
When this is done, and the water and cotton which have been boiled are
sufficiently cool, the wound should be bathed with the cotton and
boiled water until all foreign matter has been removed from the wound;
not only dirt which can be seen, but germs which cannot be seen. Some
of the boiled cotton cloth or absorbent cotton, wet as it is, should
be placed over the wound and the whole covered by a bandage. Large
gaping wounds are of course more properly closed by stitches, but very
deep wounds should be left partly open, so that the discharge may
drain away freely. Small, deep, punctured wounds are not to be closed
at all, but should be sedulously kept open by pushing in strips of
boiled cotton cloth, in order to secure drainage.

If the attendant has the requisite confidence, there is no reason why
he should not attempt stitching a wound, providing the patient is
willing, and a surgeon cannot be obtained within twenty-four hours. In
this case a rather stout, common sewing needle or needles are threaded
with black