I02 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



stood the test of time, and are now in 

 use in the principal public hospitals of 

 New York City. 



Before speaking of the methods of ster- 

 ilizing, something should be said of the 

 raw catgut. Experience has shown that 

 only the very best, smooth (not rough) 

 musical strings should be used. Under 

 ordinary circumstances, five sizes are 

 suflEicient. These are violin D, AandE, 

 and first and second banjo strings. These 

 come in boxes containing thirty strings, 

 each string measuring about 67 inches 

 in length, being separately tied with 

 fine twine. When the latter is cut, which 

 need not be done until after the catgut 

 has been sterilized, care must be taken 

 not to scratch or nick the gut, as it would 

 become weak at that spot. Although 

 these musical strings undergo, in the 

 course of their manufacture from the in- 

 testines of various animals (pieferably 

 lambs and kids) a series of purifying pro- 

 cesses, such as the removal oftheadhere- 

 ing mucous membranes, repeated mace- 

 ration in weak alkali solution and fre- 

 quent washing, yet they always retain 

 more or less septic matter, which, if not 

 removed or rendered inert, would be sure 

 to cause trouble to the surgeon and his 

 patient. Every string, moreover, before 

 it is finally rolled up and tied is rubbed 

 with a cloth impregnated with some fatty 

 oil, which penetrates the substance of the 

 gut, and renders the latter more or less 

 impervious to the ordinary solvents. A 

 gut therefore, which is afterwards treated 

 merely with an aqueous solution of car- 

 bolic acid, or with cold alcohol, with or 

 without some antiseptic salt, is by no 

 means to be trusted. It is essential that 

 all fatty matter be extracted from the gut, 

 or at least, that the latter be thoroughly 

 penetrated by an actual solvent of the 

 fatty matter, which solvent will, at the 

 same time, render permanently sterile 



any septic matter or germs that may be 

 contained in the gut. 



The methods which are now almost 

 exclusively employed in the public hos- 

 pitals for sterilizing catgut are the fol- 

 lowing ; 



I. Maceration in oil of juniper and 

 subsequent boiling with alcohol of 94% ; 

 then transferring to and keeping in 

 chloroform saturated with biniodide of 

 mercury. 



2. Treatment as under No. i, but 

 with ommission of the maceration in 

 oil of juniper. 



3. Simple maceration for at least for- 

 ty-eight hours in chloroform saturated 

 with biniodide of mercury. The strings 

 are left in this solution and taken out as 

 wanted. 



Some five years ago, when the writer's 

 attention was specially called to the ne- 

 cessity ot devising some method by which 

 catgut and other surgical ligatures could 

 be rendered really sterile and trustworthy, 

 he made a number of experiments, the 

 object of which was to ascertain in the 

 first place what processes and solvents 

 had the least weakening effect upon the 

 tenacity of the gut, and secondly which 

 of them would effectually sterilize the 

 gut. It was thus found that chloroform, 

 itself a most powerful antiseptic and ger- 

 micide, was the most satisfactory solvent 

 of the fatty matters in the gut. And it 

 was further found that complete sterility 

 was effected by saturating the chloroform 

 with biniodide of mercury. 



Numerous samples of the catgut thus 

 prepared were examined bacteriological- 

 ly, but in no case was the presence of 

 any living germs revealed. At one time, 

 some years ago, suppuration was ob- 

 served to set in after the use of a catgut 

 all derived from one particular lot just 

 imported, and it was at first supposed 

 that this had been imperfectly sterilized. 



