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What are some of the advantages of sphagnum moss dressings as recorded 

 by German writers? 



(1) Its high absorptive power. 



The results of careful experiments carried on at Hamburg by Korach in 

 19 1 5 have re-demonstrated the superiority of the absorption of sphagnum. These 

 results show that peat absorbs six times, wood pulp seven times, and sphagnum ten 

 times its dry weight of fluid. You may recall that the result of similar experi- 

 ments in America show that absorbent cotton absorbs four to six times its weight 

 according to the quality, and sphagnum as high as twenty times its dry weight. 

 Any moss absorbing ten times its weight or less was discarded by the American 

 Red Cross, Not that this was unsuitable for dressings, but because sufficient 

 material with an absorbency from sixteen to twenty was available. 



(2) It is cool and soothing. 



Because the moss is so porous it dries rapidly. This evaporation keeps the 

 wound cool and the cooling soothes. This drying of the secretion takes place so 

 rapidly that even after an operation where the wound has bled quite freely the 

 dressing was found comparatively dry after 24 to 36 hours. In consequence of 

 this ability to dry quickly, which is dependent on the porous quality of the 

 sphagnum, the moss dressings are peculiarly fitted for permanent bandages, 

 such as are desirable in the transportation of wounded people considerable 

 distances. 



(3) The dressings can remain a long time without changing. 



This fact saves much time and work for the surgeon and pain for the patient. 

 Not infrequently soldiers wounded on the field were transported to the home 

 hospital in the first dressing. 



(4) Its behavior in not being subject to disintegration even when it is dead 

 or permitting this disintegration to take place in its surroundings. 



(5) It is a produce of the home land, where "no blockade can present itself 

 as an obstacle. " 



(6) It is abundant and cheap. 



What are the possibilities for the manufacture of these dressings becoming a 

 commercial enterprise? 



The manufacture of sphagnum dressings on a commerical scale should be a 

 very profitable one if some cheap method of cleaning the moss could be devised 

 and thus avoid doing it by hand. Both the northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts, 

 where the moss is abundant and of a high grade, should be very promising localities 

 for carrning on this work. There are two firms manufacturing these dressings 

 in Portland, Oregon, and at least one, possibly more, prospective one in the New 

 England States, while in Detroit efforts are being made to perfect machinery for 

 cleaning and preparing the moss for dressings. In Scotland such an apparatus 

 has already been invented by the Rev. Adam Forman of Beattock near Edinburgh, 

 and these moss dressings are being made and sold by at least one large firm in 

 London. In Germany there are several such firms. 

 University of Washington, 

 Seattle, Wash, 



