Modern methods of antiseptic wound treatment : compiled from notes and suggestions from the following surgeons / D. Hays Agnew [and others].

Date:
[1888?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern methods of antiseptic wound treatment : compiled from notes and suggestions from the following surgeons / D. Hays Agnew [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    Sutures.—Sutures are made of silk, catgut, silkworm gut and silver, the last being employed only in exceptional instances. The material which we furnish for silk sutures are Chinese twist and braided silk. Before being used they should be boiled for half an hour, and then be immersed in the 1-1000 corrosive solution. Silkworm gut is sometimes employed; it is strong, smooth and of small diameter, but possesses no advantages over silk. If catgut be used, it should be chromicized by JViacewen's process, which renders it durable for seven days and upwards. This form of suture should be used in connection with iodoform collodion. Ligatures.—For the purpose of tying blood vessels the only materials recommended at the present day are silk and catgut. The former is pre- pared in the same manner as the silk suture. Unless catgut be prepared with great care, minute precautions being taken to render it aseptic, it will defeat the object of antiseptic operations. We fumish. catgut in three sizes—1, 8 and 3—No. 1 being the smallest and No. 3 the largest. Smaller sizes cannot be relied upon on account of their brittleness. In their preparation we foUow the process of Prof. S. W. Gross, who informs us that they are per- fectly reliable, both antiseptically and mechanically.—J. & J. The commercial catgut is immersed for half an hour in a 1 per cent, alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate, to which has been added 5 per cent, of tartaric acid. It is then transferred to, and kept permanently in, oU of juniper berries, in which it must remain 11 least ten days before being used. Previous to an operation the gut is wiped with a towel which has been wnmg out of a 1-1000 watery corrosive solution, when it is placed in a simi- lar solution, to which has been added 20 per cent, of alcohol. The alcohol prevents the material from swelling and untwisting. Made in this way, catgut is thoroughly aseptic, strong and pUable.—Prof. S. W. Gross. I would prefer catgut, made by immersing the commercial catgut for ten days in oil of juniper, washing it with sulphuric ether and keeping it in a solution of alcohol and cor- rosive subUmate, 1-1000.—N Senn, M. D. Sponges.—Selected reef sponges are generally used in hospitals, but they are quite expensive, and need considerable preparation to make them fit for use, as they are filled with sand, which must be washed out. The Linton antiseptic sponges, prepared from absorbent cotton and wood fibre, enclosed in fine antiseptic gauze, so as to give a soft and yielding mass, are preferred by many physicians in private practice, as they are very convenient and cheap enough to be thrown away after once using. Kummel's plan of washing reef sponges in green soft soap and water, then placing them in carbolic solution 1-30, or bichloride solution 1-1000, is a good one.—Hunter Mc- GuiRE, M. D., Richmond, Va. Artificial aseptic sponges may be used for plugging cavities.—A. C. Beenats, M. D. Gutta Percha Tissue—Is used to prevent the dressings on small wounds from drying too quickly, which allows the adhering of cutaneous margins before the discharge of serum from the deeper tissues has ceased. It is also used in connection with the rubber sheet to drain off the irrigating fluid. Linton Moist Dressing Paper.—A preparation of strong parchment paper made impervious to water and air, flexible and antiseptic, is used by many