This simplified technique has the added advantage of the total elimination of basins, brushes, and sponges for use in the preliminary stages of an operation, as well as the agreeable absence of the wet, sloppy field that inevitably resulted from the use of the older method in veterinary practice. Besides, it spares the patient in more ways than one, especially in the cold months of the year when, in a veterinary practice, operations frequently have to be performed in cold stables, or even in the open. While the application of tincture of iodine gives ample protection from skin infection in surgical operations, there are a few things to be observed that have to do with making the application correctly. First, in veterinary patients, the hair must be clipped off and the area shaved clean. The area clipped and shaved should be slightly greater in extent than the field actually to be invaded by the knife. When the clipping and shaving have been done, the area should be lightly brushed with a stiff, dry brush, in order to remove dandruff and scurf. The second--and the most important--point is that the surface that is to be painted with the tincture of iodine be perfectly dry. In the event that the area to be painted should contain a deposit of filth, oily or greasy in nature, this should first be removed by swabbing and wiping with gauze or cotton saturated with gasoline, benzine or ether; these remove oily, greasy or fatty filth and evaporate quickly, leaving the area perfectly dry and clean. Washing with watery solutions, previous to the iodine application, is not recommended under any conditions. When the area has been clipped, shaved, freed from grease or other filth, and then allowed to become perfectly dry, the tincture of iodine is applied liberally with a soft brush, or with a cotton swab. This is allowed to dry for a minute or two; another application is then made directly on top of the first one, allowed to evaporate to dryness, and the field is ready for the incision. As iodine readily attacks metals, and spoils the plating on instruments, no instrument should be allowed to come in contact with the painted area while it is still moist; neither should the iodine be used for disinfecting purposes on any utensils or apparatus made of metal. The fact that the iodine may injure instruments can not be considered in the light of a disadvantage, if the above precautions are taken.