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much greater amount than afjsorbent cotton. A pad made of 

 absorbent cotton will absorb only five or six times its weight of 

 water. An average pad made of sphagnum will take up sixteen 

 to eighteen times its weight of water, more than three times as 

 much as cotton, and exceptionally good moss will absorb as 

 much as twenty-two times its weight of water. 



In the third place, the sphagnum will retain liquids much 

 better than cotton. This means, of course, that a sphagnum 

 dressing need not be changed as often as a cotton dressing. 



In the fourth place, "the better qualities of sphagnum have 

 the valuable property of distributing whatever liquid they ab- 

 sorb throughout their whole mass." An absorbent pad of 

 sphagnum will continue to suck up fluid discharges until it is 

 pretty uniformly saturated throughout. This is a very impor- 

 tant feature. A cotton pad ordinarily ceases to function long 

 before its theoretical capacity has been reached. 



Now in ordinary hospital work, as Professor Porter points out, 

 the comparative inferiority of cotton as an absorbent is not of 

 any great consequence. Here, for the most part, the wounds are 

 the result of operations and they are made by the surgeon him- 

 self. They are comparatively slight, and, what is particularly 

 important, they are perfectly sterile. Discharging wounds are 

 exceptional. But in war hospital practice every wound may be 

 taken as infected. Discharging wounds are the rule, not the 

 exception. Furthermore, "the methods of treatment recently 

 so successfully developed by Carrel, Dakin, and others deliber- 

 ately increase these discharges to a very great extent. For such 

 cases . . . sphagnum is greatly preferable to any other available 

 material." 



In this connection it might be mentioned that when it is dry, 

 the sphagnum is very light, and many varieties are very fluffy. 

 Sphagnum of the quality insisted on for surgical dressings is 

 quite as soft as cotton. 



Finally, there is one other point in which the sphagnum is 

 distinctly superior to cotton; and this is a matter of great practi- 

 cal importance. Sphagnum is cheaper than cotton. Being a 

 product of nature, pure and simple, all that you have to do is to 



