i62 A METHOD OF ANTISEPTIC TREATMENT 



or cotton), well steeped in the oily solution of the acid, the cloth or lint being 

 folded sufficiently to produce a layer at least a quarter of an inch in thickness, 

 and extending a considerable distance, say three inches, beyond the oiled silk 

 in all directions, the outer layer being made somewhat larger than the rest, so that 

 the margin of the mass of cloth may be thin. Cover the oily cloth with a piece 

 of thin gutta-percha tissue sufficiently large to overlap it on all sides by an 

 inch or more, and retain it securely in position by a roller steeped in the anti- 

 septic oil. Round this again wrap a still larger piece of folded cloth, say a folded 

 towel, also steeped in the oily solution of carbolic acid, and cover it with a piece 

 of oiled silk or gutta-percha. 



With a view to the intelligent application of this dressing, it will be well 

 to state briefly its rationale. The watery solution is applied in order to destroy 

 once for all any septic particles that may have been introduced into the 

 wound ; and the oily solution is employed to prevent the spread of putrefactive 

 fermentation into the wound from without. The oiled silk, which is but slightly 

 permeable to carbolic acid, protects the raw surface from the irritation of the 

 acid in the oily cloth, and permits it to heal as under a scab. But though the 

 ultimate office of the oiled silk is to protect the wound from the irritation of 

 the antiseptic, it must itself be antiseptic at the time of application, and is 

 therefore smeared with the oil, which in the course of no long time loses its 

 carbolic acid by diffusion into the wound beneath. The substantial and widely 

 extending oily cloth serves as a store of the antiseptic ; but the bloody and 

 serous discharge soaking into the porous cloth tends to wash away the oil and 

 deprive the dressing of its antiseptic character ; hence the necessity for the 

 gutta-percha, which prevents the discharge from making its way directly out- 

 wards from the wound, and so establishing a road for the penetration of putre- 

 faction inwards. At the same time the gutta-percha, though impermeable to 

 watery or oily fluid, being readily permeated by carbolic acid, permits the anti- 

 septic ingredient to pass in through it from the outer cloth and act upon the 

 discharge that flows out beneath the overlapping margins of the gutta-percha. 

 The outer cloth is intended to be changed as occasion may require, in order to 

 keep up the supply of the antiseptic, while the gutta-percha and all beneath 

 it constitute a more permanent application. The layer of gutta-percha or 

 oiled silk outside the external cloth is to prevent the oil in that cloth from being 

 wasted by soaking out into the surrounding articles of clothing, &c. ; or, still 

 worse, neutralized chemically by the penetration inwards of putrid blood or 

 other discharges from the ambulance-wagon or bedding. The circumferential 

 part of the deeper cloth will, in consequence of its thinness, be kept completely 

 antiseptic by the carbolic acid which passes inwards through the gutta-percha, 



