DETAILS OF ANTISEPTIC SURGERY 233 



a very energetic application is required, entailing hours of considerable uneasi- 

 ness to the patient. 



In deep burns, where from any cause the sloughs have been allowed to 

 putrefy, the moist boracic lint will be found an excellent dressing. In a case 

 lately under my care, the gluteal region having been extensively and deeply 

 burnt, the vicinity of the perineum made it impossible to keep out putrefactive 

 fermentation. Here accordingly a daily dressing of lint, steeped in one part 

 of carbolic acid to thirty of olive oil, and covered with gutta-percha tissue, 

 was employed ; but, in spite of this application, the air of the room was pervaded 

 with a strong putrid smell. I therefore substituted for the carbolic oil a dressing 

 of moist boracic lint, and, at my next visit, was glad to find the apartment free 

 from unpleasant odour, although, the sloughs having not yet separated, the 

 emanations would doubtless have been even more offensive than before had the 

 previous dressing been continued. I was, therefore, now able to direct that 

 the boracic lint should be changed only every other day, instead of having the 

 patient disturbed and pained by a daily dressing. And, further, when the 

 sloughs had separated, feeling sure that, by virtue of the boracic acid stored 

 up in the lint, putrefaction would be less advanced in three days under it than 

 it would have been in twenty-four hours under water dressing, I felt justified 

 in allowing this still longer period of tranquillity. 



This is a sufficiently striking illustration of the value of the boracic lint as 

 a moist application in all circumstances in which putrid sloughs are present 

 in parts superficially situated, so that the antiseptic can gain access to them. 

 And while the boracic acid gradually dissolved out of the lint by the discharges 

 has this powerful effect in diminishing or arresting putrefaction, it also generally 

 allows cicatrization to proceed kindly in such parts as are alread}' cleansed of 

 sloughs, though the healing is not so rapid as where the direct action of the 

 acid is excluded by protective over a purified sore. 



If much inflammation is present around putrid sloughs, wet boracic lint 

 applied to the sloughs, and a poultice outside this and extending over the whole 

 inflamed integument, will be found to work extremely well. The boracic lint may 

 be left undisturbed for twenty-four hours or more, while the poultice is changed 

 as often as may be desired. 



The moist boracic lint is also a convenient dressing after operations upon 

 the penis. Here the frequent exposure of the part for the purpose of micturition 

 makes it necessary to entrust the antiseptic management on each occasion to 

 the patient himself, so that some very simple arrangement is indispensable. 

 With tliis object a strip of the moist boracic lint mav be wound round ihc organ 

 and secured in position by a piece of thread or narrow bandage, so as to cover 



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