Wound healing.

An account is given of the methods used and the results obtained in a series of experimental studies, carried out over the past 15 years, of the effects of various factors on the healing of abdominal wounds in animals. The factors examined include uraemia, jaundice, infections, and the technique of wound closure. The preliminary findings in a comparison now in progress of the results of one- and two-layer closure of laparotomy wounds in human patients are also given. The relative neglect of the study of wound healing in the past is emphasized and some aspects that are in urgent need of further investigation are mentioned.