Antiseptics are chemical substances which have the power of killing germs outright, or so checking their growth that the cells in the blood can easily cope with them. The antiseptics that are mentioned in these notes are carbolic acid, chinosol, permanganate of potash, and boric acid. Given the antiseptic properties of the substance, it seems a simple thing, by its application, to prevent germs either entering a wound or multiplying there, but in actual practice the germ-free cleanliness of a wound is a difficult thing to procure. The germs are everywhere—on the instruments which cause the wounds, on the skin of the patient, in the sweat glands of the skin, at the roots of the hairs, and on the hands of the operator, especially under the nails. Again, a great obstacle to the free action of antiseptics is grease or oil of all kinds. A fine coating of grease enveloping a germ offers great resistance to the action of antiseptics, and the object of the process of cleansing a wound described below is, first, to remove all the grease, and then to apply the antiseptic to destroy the germs. With care, a clean-cut wound should heal kindly, without the formation of matter. _To clean and dress a Wound._ First cover the wound itself with a small piece of cotton-wool or lint, wrung out in an antiseptic solution; then thoroughly scrub the surrounding skin with warm water and soap (soft soap for preference), using a nail brush which has been previously boiled. Shave the skin in every case, whether thickly covered with hair or not. This shaving is most important, as it removes all fine grease-coated hairs which might favour the growth of germs, and also scrapes off the surface dirt and dead scales of skin. After shaving, again scrub with soap and water, and wash the skin with an antiseptic lotion, such as carbolic (1 in 60), or chinosol (1 in 1000). Having cleansed the skin, now clean up the wound itself. Thoroughly wash the wound with an antiseptic lotion, either rubbed in with lint or wool, or injected with a _glass_ syringe. All instruments, ligatures and needles should be boiled for at least five minutes in water (to which a little washing-soda may be added with advantage), and should then be dropped into an antiseptic solution. When boiling is not possible, they should be soaked in carbolic lotion, 1 in 30, for ten minutes, and then transferred to 1 in 60. The hands of the operator must be scrubbed for some minutes with soap and warm water, and then in an antiseptic solution, particular attention being paid to the nails, which should have been cut quite short. Cleanliness of the operator’s hands is the first essential of successful treatment of wounds. The edges of small, clean-cut wounds may be brought together with adhesive plaster, but larger wounds will need antiseptic silk or gut ligatures to keep the edges applied evenly.