In brief, such injuries must be kept scrupulously neat and surgically clean.

In the after-treatment it is of great importance that the wound and the dressing should be kept free from bacteria by keeping everything surgically clean.

It will thus be seen that in most cases the wounds were anything but clean-cut; with very few exceptions, they were never surgically clean.

By surgically clean we mean that no bacteria are present which can interfere with the healing of the tissues, and only those who are familiar with surgical work can realize the importance of this condition.