28 WOUND TREATMENT 



lint charged with carbolic acid, and protected by an 

 external layer of thin sheet metal. ... In opening 

 abscesses a piece of cloth from four to six inches square^ 

 was dipped into a solution of one part of crystallized 

 carbolic acid and four parts of boiled linseed oil, and 

 then laid upon the skin where the incision was to be 

 made. One edge of this cloth being raised, the part was 

 incised with a knife previously dipped in the oil, and the 

 cloth was instantly dropped upon the skin as an anti- 

 septic curtain, beneath which the pus flowed out. 



''For the subsequent dressings a kind of putty was 

 made by mixing common whiting with the carbolized 

 oil, and this, spread into a layer about six inches square, 

 was laid over the incision." 



From this simple and crude beginning evolved those 

 principles which were ultimately destined to revolution- 

 ize surgery, and render their discoverer the greatest bene- 

 factor to mankind that has ever lived. In 1867, carbol- 

 ized shellac plaster was substituted for the putty and 

 found more convenient, and during the same period 

 ligatures of silk or catgut were introduced, the latter, 

 however, not assuming their present form until 1881. 

 Even with the above primitive antiseptic measures a 

 marked improvement resulted in surgical work, and Lis- 

 ter recorded that hospital gangrene, pyemia, and erysipe- 

 las disappeared from his wards. 



In 1869 gauze charged with carbolized resin took the 

 place of the shellac plaster, and various methods of em- 

 ploying carbolized oil and drainage tubes were described 

 in articles written by Lister for the Lancet. In these 

 articles were also discussed the sterilization and use of 

 sponges, and experimental proof was adduced that ''the 

 septic ferments were solid particles and not some kind 

 of material in solution." 



The use of boric acid as an antiseptic was also de- 



