The practical outcome of such a chapter as this is, then, to insist as strongly as possible on the preparation of patients, whenever this is feasible, for an ordeal which comprises the combined effect of anesthesia and consequent disturbance of secretion and elimination, with loss of blood and of strength, and subsequent confinement in bed, with, moreover, all that this entails in further impairment of activities of important organs. It is not always possible, practically rarely so in emergency cases, to adopt these precautions; in which cases they must be atoned for, as far as possible, by extra attention in the same directions after the emergency is passed or has been met. In the former case, however, the functions of the skin, the kidneys, and the abdominal viscera should be regulated, the first by hot-air baths; the second by this same measure in conjunction with copious draughts of pure water, the correction of hyperacidity of the urine, and the administration of whatever drugs may be of benefit as diuretics, etc.; and the third by a course, perhaps covering several days, of gentle or active purgation, by which the alimentary canal will be entirely emptied of all that may serve to act as a source of poisoning. In addition to this, in certain cases careful massage will dislodge from the muscles and other tissues material which they ought not to retain, and which will be washed away, as it were, by the extra amount of fluid which this preparation, necessitates. Again, the activity of the heart should be stimulated, perhaps by digitalis, but preferably by that best of all tonics, strychnine, which is to be administered hypodermically in average doses of a thirtieth or twenty-fifth of a grain, morning and night. When these precautions are taken, patients will successfully pass through trying ordeals without anything which may give rise to alarm. When they are not possible, the risk of operating, even in a small way, is materially enhanced. So, too, after operations when these precautions have not been taken, it is necessary to give careful attention to atoning for their lack by such active purgation as a now reduced patient may bear--by hot-air baths, if feasible, and by the administration of such intestinal antiseptics as charcoal, naphthalin, corrosive sublimate, bismuth salicylate, salol, etc., for the purpose of reducing to the lowest possible minimum the opportunity for formation of poisons which will disturb the proper repair of injury. CHAPTER VII. THE SURGICAL FEVERS AND SEPTIC INFECTIONS. SURGICAL FEVER, KNOWN ALSO AS TRAUMATIC FEVER, OR ASEPTIC WOUND FEVER.