DEAINAGE. .75 



ootton-wool over it. The entire dressing should be kept in position 

 by a moderately tight bandage, the pressure of which will aid the 

 cure by tending to bring the edges of the wound together. A 

 good result can be expected from this method only when the anti- 

 septic material is sufficiently thick to prevent the discharge, if it 

 be present, from soaking through and thus becoming exposed to 

 contamination from the outside air. If this occurs, the whole of 

 the dressing should be removed, and fresh applied. Before the days 

 of antiseptic surgery, the French surgeon Guerin practised with 

 much success the plan of applying evenly distributed pressure 

 on wounds, aiter having cleaned and brought the divided edges 

 together, by covering the part with a large amount of cotton-wool, 

 and then putting a bandage over it. Dressing of the wound with 

 iodoform, and the substitution of antiseptic wood-wool for ordinary 

 cotton-wool, are valuable improvements on Guerin's method. 



If antiseptic cotton-wool cannot be obtained, the wounded parts 

 should be covered with iodoform, tannoform, or even with burnt 

 alum. 



Bandages are of use for preserving the proper position of the 

 parts ; but care should be taken that they are applied evenly, and 

 not too tightly, so that their presence may not give rise to an 

 unhealthy condition of the wound, from interference with the 

 circulation of the blood. Evenly distributed pressure (with, for 

 instance, cotton wadding, see p. 44) by bandaging below a wound 

 in the legs, often produces a very good effect by preventing stagna- 

 tion of blood in the lower part of the limb, through which the 

 blood that nourishes the leg has to pass before it can return to 

 the heart. 



If the part inflames, the sutures and bandages should be removed, 

 and the part bathed from time to- time with some weak antiseptic 

 lotion (p. 67). 



If' the process of healing is not going on in the desired manner, 

 there will be constitutional disturbance with rise of internal 

 temperature (p. 691) ; discharge of matter, swelling and unusual 

 heat of the part ; and (a ready and reliable guide) a mawkish odour 

 about the dressings. But if inflammation does not ensue to ally 

 marked extent, the woimd should not be interfered with by 

 fomentations, or lotions of any kind. 



SECURE DRAINAGE. — Drainage is necessary, chiefly to remove 

 putrid matter and prevent the wounded surfaces from being kept 

 apart by the accumulation of discharges, etc. The free escape of 

 such matters should be provided for, if possible, at the lowest point, 

 by an ordinary drainage tube, or, as suggested by Major Blen- 

 kinsop, A.V.D., by using a cord of six or seven long horsehairs 



