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material can be spread out to dry. The drying can be accom- 

 plished by spreading out the moss on a clean lawn or on the 

 floor of a barn or attic where there is a good circulation of air. 

 But where large quantities of material are to be handled, it is 

 customary to use drying racks of some sort. Drying by means of 

 artificial heat is avoided, so far as possible, since material thus 

 prepared is much more brittle than material that has been air- 

 dried. 



The only further treatment the moss requires before it is 

 ready to be made up into dressings is sorting over. This is 

 preferably done before the material has become thoroughly dried 

 out, since the moss when dry is more or less brittle and less easy to 

 handle than when moist. All foreign material is carefully pulled 

 out by hand., and at the same time the moss is separated into two 

 or more grades: first class material suitable for dressings, second 

 class material suitable for bed pads, etc. This part of the work, 

 indeed everything except the collection and hauling of material, 

 is done by women. In Canada, moss sorting is one of the most 

 popular phases of Red Cross work among the volunteer workers. 



In conclusion, just a word regarding the nature of the absorbent 

 dressings which are made from the sphagnum. The simplest 

 type is merely a bag filled with the moss and then sewed up. 

 This type has been extensively turned out by the Canadian and 

 the British Red Cross and to some extent by the American Red 

 Cross. The bag is made of light-weight muslin, this being used 

 in preference to gauze, which is too light and of too open a texture 

 to use in this style of dressing. This particular type of dressing 

 has several disadvantages. The sphagnum has a tendency to 

 slide around and to bunch up, and the dressing wets through to 

 the back very quickly. Moreover, for various reasons the muslin 

 is inferior to gauze or cheesecloth, such as is used in absorbent 

 cotton pads, and it is objected to by surgeons. 



This style of dressing has been greatly improved upon within 

 the last year, and a type of pad has been devised which seems to 

 overcome all of the objections that I have just mentioned. 

 These pads are constructed somewhat as follows. In making the 

 pad, first of all a layer of cheap non-absorbent cotton, the size of 



