DETAILS OF ANTISEPTIC SURGERY 211 



a mixture of resin, spermaceti, and carbolic acid, therefore, though admirable 

 in consistence, would be both less mild and less permanent in action than the 

 resin and acid alone. The addition of paraffin, on the other hand, has no other 

 effect on the mixture than to render it somewhat more mild. It seems needful 

 to point out this circumstance, because, from want of knowledge of it, modifica- 

 tions of the gauze have been suggested in which the paraffin has been replaced 

 by other materials, which cannot fail to be disadvantageous. 



In order to charge the gauze, the paraffin and resin are first melted together 

 in a water bath, after which the acid is added and blended bv stirring. The 

 object now is to diffuse this melted mixture equably through the cotton cloth, 

 and for this purpose two things are requisite — viz. that the cotton be at a higher 

 temperature than the melting-point of the mixture, and that it be subjected 

 to moderate pressure after receiving it. The cotton cloth, a yard wide, is cut 

 into six-yard lengths, and these, having been folded so as to be half a yard 

 square, are placed in a dry hot chamber formed of two tin boxes placed one 

 within the other, with an interval to receive water, which is kept boiling by 

 fire or gas beneath, the upper edges of the boxes being connected and provided 

 with an exit-pipe for the steam. There is also a glass tube arranged as a gauge 

 of the amount of the water, and the chamber has a properl}- fitting lid. The 

 bottom of the chamber is strengthened with an iron plate, to enable it to bear 

 the weight used for compressing the gauze when charged. This is a piece of 

 wood, about two inches thick, nearly fitting the chamber, covered with sheet- 

 lead, so as to make it about as heavy as a man can lift by means of two handles 

 in the upper surface. The weight is heated along with the cotton, and is put 

 first into the chamber so as to leave the cotton loose for the penetration of the 

 heat, which occupies two or three hours. The cotton, when heated, is taken 

 out of the chamber along with the weight, and placed in a wooden box, to protect 

 it from the cold. (It would be better to have a second hot chamber for this 

 purpose, since in cold weather the cotton is apt to be too much cooled in spite 

 of the protection of the wooden box.) The heated gauze is then at once charged 

 with the melted mixture of carbolic acid, resin, and paraffin, in cpuintity equal 

 to the weight of the cotton fabric (or slightly less), and, in order to diffuse the 

 liquid as equably as possible, it is sprinkled over the gauze by means of a syringe 

 with a number of minute perforations in its extremity, the bod\- of the syringe 

 and the piston-rod having each a wooden handle to protect the hands of the 

 workman from the heat. The syringe is constnicted to hold half the cpiantity 

 of the mixture required for charging one piece of cloth. One folded ]Mece 

 being placed at the bottom of the hot chamber, its upper half is raised and 

 turned aside, and one syringeful is sprinkled over the lower half. The upper 



