THE ANTISEPTIC MANAGEMENT OF WOUNDS 361 



entire mass will be uniformly damp. This may be done by a nurse, who then 

 folds the gauze up in a piece of macintosh cloth in which it is kept till it is required 

 for use, the precaution being taken of turning over the edge of the jaconet so 

 as to prevent the cotton from coming in contact with the gauze, and abstracting 

 the carbolic lotion by capillary attraction. Used in this way the double-cvanide 

 gauze may be absolutely trusted for excluding mischievous microbes ; and we 

 have seen that it contains the antiseptic element excellently stored up, and that 

 it does not irritate ; and when I add that it is all that can be desired in absorbing 

 power, you will see that it approaches very closely to our ideal. And having 

 now employed it constantly for over four years, both in hospital and in private 

 practice, with thoroughly satisfactory results, I feel entire confidence in recom- 

 mending it to you. 



Here is a sample of the gauze ready for use. It is, you observe, of mauve 

 colour, whereas the pure cyanide of mercury and zinc is a white impalpable 

 powder. I have fully explained elsewhere the reasons for using a d\'e,^ but 

 I may here shortly recapitulate them. When the pure salt is diffused in water, 

 and a piece of gauze is charged by drawing it through the liquid and dried, it 

 is found that the powder dusts out of the gauze on the slightest touch, and 

 irritates the nostrils extremely. I first remedied this defect by means of starch ; 

 and having observed that starch in solution in water becomes attached to the 

 particles of the double salt and completely precipitated with it, it occurred to 

 me that perhaps some colouring matter might behave in the same manner as 

 the starch, and that thus it might be possible to dye the colourless salt, and so 

 have the means of judging, by the tint of the gauze charged with it, whether or 

 not it was uniformly distributed in the fabric. I found on trial that various 

 *dyes did indeed behave as I hoped, including colouring matters so different as 

 Prussian blue, logwood, and various aniline dyes. But, what I had not at 

 all anticipated, it turned out that in the case of some of these dyes, when the 

 coloured precipitate was diffused in water and the gauze was drawn through 

 the mixture and dried, without the use of any starch, the objectionable dusting 

 was avoided. The particles of dye, though in extreme^ small proportion to 

 those of the salt, attached them, as it would appear, to the fabric. 



When I last published on the subject,- I recommended haematoxylin for 

 this purpose. But I have since ascertained that the effect is produced still 

 more satisfactorily by an aniline dye, the h3^drochlorate of mauveine, known 

 in commerce by the name of purified rosalane.^ I have here a sample of the 



* Sec p. 325 of this volume. 



* Vide loc. cit. 



' This dye may be obtained from Messrs. Meister, Lucius, and Briining, of Hocchst-on-Maiii. 1 may 

 here pubHcly express my thanks to Dr. Perkin, to whom the worUl is indebted for the anihne dyes, for 



LISTER II B b 



