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NEW METHOD OF HEALING DESPERATE WOUNDS 397
PERFORATING THE RUBBER IRRIGATION TUBES
Common antiseptics either were not
powerful enough, or they were too
powerful; that is, none of them that had
"punch" enough to put the gas bacillus
out of business could be used for general
and steady irrigation of tissue, because
they would burn or shrivel the
tissue as well. Eventually, however, he
hit upon the substance, and thus one of
Dr. Carrel's two difficulties was removed.
The substance was sodium
hypochlorite.
In the meantime, Doctor Carrel was
going after the problem which specially
challenged his skill as an operating sur-\
geon—the problem of getting antiseptic
into the wound. Pouring it over the surface
would not do, for when a man has
been standing near an exploding shell,
for instance, half his leg or arm may
resemble hamburger steak more closely
than it does human tissue, and no substance
poured over the surface of the
ghastly mass would trickle or seep
through in sufficient quantity to do any
good.
Dr. Carrel knew this, and as a starter
he tried "sucking" it into the wound by
inserting a number of rubber tubes leading
from a vacuum pump into the depths
of the torn flesh and relying on this suction
to draw the fluid into the tissue.
Before long, however, he decided to
reverse the process in effect—that is, he
forced the antiseptic through the tubes
into all parts of the wound, and allowed it
to drain away as it would. The scheme
worked—worked wonderfully—and gas
gangrene was beaten, so far as the
patients fortunate enough to come to
Dr. Carrel's hospital were concerned.
The bacilli simply had no chance to survive
against the flood of antiseptic that
searched them out throughout the wound
every two hours, and the rapidity with
wdiich they were wiped out may be
judged from the fact that one could see
the mangled flesh changing from the
u gl}' greens, yellows, and purples which
denote the destructive work of gas
gangrene into the rose and pink of
healthy tissue, as the wound was flooded
every two hours.
But that was not the end of the