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[LoneAccident of Axes]

At present, if a patients wound needs cleaning and there isn't a water source, the patient doesn't get cleaned.

My suggestion: If water can't be found, they grab a barrel of booze and slosh it onto the wound. The patient would experience pain and the medical dwarf might bemoan the waste of good booze, but atleast the job gets done.

[SimRobert2001]

In actuality, the antiseptic properties would relate to how much alcoholic content was in the booze itself. Beer really doesn't have that many antiseptic properties because its mostly water. You'd have to get up into the region of whiskey for that.

[Bumber]

In actuality, the antiseptic properties would relate to how much alcoholic content was in the booze itself. Beer really doesn't have that many antiseptic properties because its mostly water. You'd have to get up into the region of whiskey for that.

It's still more antiseptic than using plain/dirty water. OP didn't even mention the antiseptic part, just for when you don't have any alternative. You've got soap for that.

[LoneAccident of Axes]

At present, water is the stand in for when you don't have any soap. Soap requires you set up an industry first and that you have wood. In an icy or desert biome without water or wood, it'd be nice to have an alternative.

It's just frustrating to see surgery held up because the dwarves can't find water, when they're surrounded by something that's potentially cleaner than water.

[Inarius]

I'm not sure that medieval wine or booze would be better than water. There were a lot of organic "stuffs" in these alcohols that you wouldn't want to put on a wound.

[Bumber]

I'm not sure that medieval wine or booze would be better than water. There were a lot of organic "stuffs" in these alcohols that you wouldn't want to put on a wound.

It's not medieval, it's dwarven. They're experts at alcohol. Cheap imported human/elf booze, maybe.

[Neonivek]

Usually alcohol of this time period is too watered down to be of much use to clean someone... Even then not all alcohol can be used.

But generally speaking you need something with AT LEAST 40% alcohol content.

[Dirst]

Usually alcohol of this time period is too watered down to be of much use to clean someone... Even then not all alcohol can be used.

But generally speaking you need something with AT LEAST 40% alcohol content.

Rubbing alcohol (or "surgical spirit" depending on your part of the world) was invented after the 1300 cut-off, but seems like the kind of thing that dwarves might have developed a tad earlier than humans.  It would be a distinct liquid that could be made from anything with a DRINK_MAT.

[NJW2000]

Alcohol fixes everything in DF that is not on fire. Seems like a good way to prevent infections, perhaps an adventure mode application where you pour it over a wound to sterilise it briefly?

[Dirst]

Alcohol fixes everything in DF that is not on fire.

Designate a booze stockpile on top of the fire.

Alcohol fixes everything in DF.

[MDFification]

Usually alcohol of this time period is too watered down to be of much use to clean someone... Even then not all alcohol can be used.

But generally speaking you need something with AT LEAST 40% alcohol content.

Aye, this is accurate. Historically most alcohol was piss-weak until after the cutoff. Alcohol applied to wounds was typically boiling when applied so it was more of a cauterization thing. The real benefit of using alcohol was then that it has less particulate matter that would get stuck in the wound because it had been distilled.

[GoblinCookie]

Usually alcohol of this time period is too watered down to be of much use to clean someone... Even then not all alcohol can be used.

But generally speaking you need something with AT LEAST 40% alcohol content.

Sugar is also an antiseptic (counterintutitively).  The sugar content of the alcholic beverage, this being in the natural course of things mutually exclusive with the alchohol content must be taken into account.  If you are using a high sugar beverage, like wine or mead for instance then the suger content would add to the alchohol effect.  The best antiseptic is actually something like honey because of all that concentrated suger.

Basically the effectiveness of a beverage depends upon it having a high suger or alchohol content in total.  However a high carbohydrate content would have presumably a negative effect, meaning that something like beer which is made out of grain would actually cause infection unless the alchohol content was very high.  So basically we have to do a breakdown of substances that looks a bit like this.

+Alchohol
+Suger
+Acid
-Carbohydrates. (no beer or plant extracts)
-Fats (no milk)

Acidic substances are best, so orange, lime or lemon wine would make a better antiseptic than regular grape wine.  Mead would make the very best antiseptic since it made from honey but is also antiseptic. 

[Inarius]

+Alchohol
+Suger
+Acid
-Carbohydrates. (no beer or plant extracts)
-Fats (no milk)

And silver, too.

[Neonivek]

Still GoblinCookie the watered down factor is still an issue.

But... typically wine, even modern day wine, actually makes a wound worse.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Is Dwarven rum watered down? It's already a good 300 years ahead of it's time. Perhaps the pre-1300 'rules of realistic alcohol' don't apply in this case?