173 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
THE USE OF CAHBOLIC ACID. 
The Lancet says:—We are indebted to Mr. Cluflf, late 
house-surgeon to University College Hospitab for an interest¬ 
ing and elaborate account of the results of the employment 
of carbolic-acid dressings, and regret that our space will not 
permit us to give more than a brief glance at the principal 
points to which he alludes. Experience has shown that the 
greatest exactitude is requisite for the dressings to be suc¬ 
cessful; and with this attention no doubt is entertained that 
antiseptic dressings diminish the amount of suppuration, and 
expedite the cure. For out-patients generally, the use of the 
chloride of zinc, according to Mr. De Morgan’s method, is 
thought to offer superior advantages to carbolic acid, because 
less minute care is required in its application, and its effects 
seem more permanent. Mr. Christopher Heath speaks in 
high terms of its efficacy. 
As regards carbolic acid, the strongest solution in use is 
made with one part of acid to four of boiled linseed oil; and 
this is rarely used, except for compound fractures, and such 
like cases. The solution commonly employed is one contain¬ 
ing one part of acid to ten of oil. Still weaker solutions— 
one to twenty of w^ater, and one to forty of water—are also 
in common use. The former is employed for washing out 
wounds that have been exposed to the air for some time 
before being dressed ; and the latter is the ordinary detergent 
lotion of the hospital, used for washing wounds after opera¬ 
tions, and as a protective wash when the outer dressings, 
afterwards applied, are subsequently changed. The lac- 
plaster suggested by Mr. Lister has been used in all available 
cases with good results. 
Great importance is attached to the securing a free exit 
for the discharge which drains from a wound in the first 
twenty-four hours. The importance of attending to this 
point was long since pointed out by Mr. Lister; and it is 
believed that some of the failures in the early experiments 
with carbolic acid at this hospital were due to the neglect of 
this. This discharge is in no w^ay affected by carbolic acid 
as regards its quantity; the acid prevents its decomposition. 
An important question is,—What is the effect of antiseptic 
VOL. XLII. 13 
