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The teachings of instructors in surgery, and also those in the text-books on the subject, are all to the effect that felon, paronychia, or whitlow, will require sooner or later a free, deep incision, even to the bone, and that in the majority of cases the sooner this is done after the diagnosis is made, the better. I believe, also, that careful inquiry would show that this is the almost universal practice both of those who follow surgery more particularly, and of general practitioners. But little is found in writings in regard to the medical and internal treatment of these cases, other than the suggestion that tonics are often needed; and the almost universal recommendation is that poultices should be applied, both before and after the incision.
Having had quite a considerable number of cases of felon under my care in public and private practice, some of them being very