150 WOUND TEBATMENT 



coma. I do not believe, because I do not know ; but, not 

 knowing I have not the recklessness to say, ' ' Impossible. ' ' 



Nature's usual first step in healing an incised wound 

 is to discharge a thin serous fluid. Attempts at aiding 

 this first step are made by using an "osmotic pump"; 

 that is, by applying some substance of high specific grav- 

 ity in which an antiseptic is dissolved, and anticipating 

 that germs carried out of the tissues will be killed as are 

 those of external origin. Hence, glycerin and its combi- 

 nations were used, and later sodium chlorid was similarly 

 einployed. This salt regulates osmosis and imitates some 

 of the functions of blood serum. Other sodium or potas- 

 sium salts were mixed with the sodium chlorid -until 

 finally Wright, of England, mentioned the advantages 

 of the citrate. 



Wright's solution has been widely and successfully 

 used; but it is really a wound-healer, pure and simple, 

 and is devoid of any germicidal value". It compares well 

 with allantoin, and, in view of the raging European war, 

 is much more accessible. It does seem as if the vulnerarj' 

 had come into its own again, after all ; at the same time, 

 the lessons learned from the wave of antisepsis are many 

 and important. 



Suppose one were to secure a vulnerary which was at 

 the same time a germicide, yet free from the drawbacks 

 called irritation. Suppose a misture existed which was 

 sedative to tissues and attacked neither skin nor instru- 

 ment. Suppose this preparation would take care of 

 vaginal or dormal injuries so far as redness, heat, pain, 

 swelling, and discharge were concerned. Suppose a sur- 

 geon could employ it equally well to treat vaginal gonor- 

 rhea or a septic or an aseptic wound, or use it on his 

 own face after shaving. Then it might well be called 

 the surgeon's own powder, especially if it were odorless. 



There is such a combination, which, when it is brought 



