No one should touch the wound but the operator and his first assistant. No one should touch the sponges but the operator, his first assistant, and the nurse having charge of them. No one should touch the already prepared ligatures or instruments except the surgeon and his first or second assistants.
None but those assigned to the work are expected to handle instruments, sponges, dressings, etc., during the operation.
When any one taking part in the operation touches an object not sterilized, such as a table, a tray, or the ether towel, he should not be allowed to touch the instruments, the dressings, or the ligatures until his hands have been again sterilized. It is important that the hands of the surgeon, his assistants, and nurses should not touch any part of his own body, nor of the patient's body, except at the sterilized seat of operation, because infection may be carried to the wound. Rubbing the head or beard or wiping the nose requires immediate disinfection of the hands to be practiced.
The trailing ends of ligatures and sutures should never be allowed to touch the surgeon's clothing or to drag upon the operating table, because such contact may occasionally, though not always, pick up bacteria which may cause suppuration in the wound.
Instruments which fall upon the floor should not be again used until thoroughly disinfected.
The clothing of the patient, in the vicinity of the part to be operated upon, and the blanket and sheets used there to keep him warm, should be covered with dry sublimate towels. All dressings should be kept safe from infection by being stored in glass jars, or wrapped in dry sublimate towels.
The address in surgery delivered before the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, June 4, 1890.