Do you know how a surgeon gets ready to do an operation? The first thing he does is to see that the room is perfectly clean. He has the carpet taken up, the curtains taken down, and the floor and walls washed. This is to get rid of all the dirt and germs in the room. If you should look at the surgeon's instruments, so clean and bright, you would think it impossible for a germ to find a place to live on; but the surgeon knows how closely the germs cling, and therefore he boils all the instruments he is going to use. Then he puts the towels into a place where they are made so hot by steam that all the germs on them are killed. After everything in the room is perfectly clean, the surgeon cleans his patient with a very stiff brush, using plenty of soap and water which has been boiled to kill all the germs in it. He scrubs the part where the wound is to be made and the skin around it until it is red. Even then he is not satisfied, for he washes it off with alcohol and ether, to be sure that any germs that might be sticking in the fat are removed. He scrubs his hands in the same way. After all this is done, he can perform the operation without fear that any of the germs which cause suppuration will get in, for he knows that he has killed all of them that would touch the wound. [Illustration: FIGS. 51 and 52. Always wash the simplest cut with soap and water; failure to do this may result in infection and much suffering.] [Sidenote: How to prevent suppuration] Boys and girls cannot do all this before they cut their hands or skin their shins, but they can do the next best thing--they can keep their hands and the rest of their bodies clean at all times, and thus have as few germs on them as possible. Then, when they have cut themselves, they can go straight to some place where there is soap and water, and can wash the wound thoroughly. After this is done, a clean bandage should be placed on the cut part to prevent any other germs from getting in. If this is done every time you cut yourself, you will probably never have an infection--that is, a wound that suppurates. Two boys were playing together one day. They ran into each other and each got a little cut on his hand. One boy went home at once, washed the wound, and put on a clean bandage. He lost a little time from his play, but was soon back and never had any trouble on account of the cut. The other boy thought it was foolish to quit his play to take care of such a little thing, so he tied his hand up in a dirty handkerchief. Two weeks later he was very ill. His arm was badly swollen and had to be cut open in several places; indeed, he came near losing his arm. It always pays to take care of a wound, be it never so slight.