DETAILS OF ANTISEPTIC SURGERY 229 



out from it by the discharge. A ready means of attaining this object was 

 presented by the fact that the acid, though but sparingly soluble in water at 

 ordinary temperatures, is pretty freely dissolved at the boiling-point. Thus, 

 at 60° Fahr. water takes up only about a twenty-sixth part of its weight, and 

 at 100° less than a sixteenth, but at 212° more than a third. Hence if a piece 

 of lint is dipped in a saturated solution near the boiling-point, it absorbs a great 

 deal of the acid, and, after being allowed to dry, it is found to weigh about 

 twice as much as it did originally, the weight of the crystals disseminated through 

 it being nearly equal to that of the lint itself. If, therefore, this * boracic lint ' 

 is used as a dressing the discharge may soak through it repeatedly without 

 dissolving out all the acid, although it takes up in its passage a sufficient amount 

 to render it antiseptic. It is further a fortunate circumstance that the crystals 

 of boracic acid, instead of being hard and harsh, like most crystals, are soft and 

 unctuous, and therefore occasion no mechanical irritation of the skin. 



The boracic lint has proved very valuable in the treatment of ulcers of 

 the legs or elsewhere. In dealing with them, the first step is to cleanse the 

 sore and the surrounding skin once for all from septic impurity. This is done 

 by treating the surface of the sore freely with a solution of chloride of zinc (forty 

 grains to the ounce), and at the same time washing the integument with a strong 

 watery solution of carbolic acid, which is used on account of its remarkable 

 power of penetrating the epidermis, while for the sore itself the solution of the 

 chloride appears to be more efficient. This preliminary step having been taken, 

 the boracic dressing is at once employed as follow^s : A piece of oiled silk pro- 

 tective, of sufficient size to cover the sore and slightly overlap the surrounding 

 skin, is dipped in the boracic lotion (a saturated w^atery solution) and apphed, 

 and over this a piece of boracic lint large enough to extend for an inch or more 

 beyond the protective on all sides, the whole being retained in position \\-ith 

 a bandage. It is w-ell to soak the boracic lint with the lotion before putting 

 it on, not for the sake of adding more of the acid, but because the lint, when 

 applied moist and allowed to dry on, is less liable to slip afterwards from its 

 position, and also for the purpose of purifying the surface of the lint itself„ 

 wiiich in the dry state has no power of acting upon septic dust adhering to it, 

 the acid which it contains being non-volatile, and, therefore, only acting when 

 in solution. 



In this dressing the protective serves its usual purpose of preventing as 

 much as possible the direct action of the antiseptic upon the healing part ; 

 and although boracic acid interferes witli cicatrization much less than carbolic 

 acid does, the epidermic development proceeds more quickly when it is rxcludod. 

 while the formation of pus due to the stimulation of the surface of the granula- 



