886 
DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
is too great to warrant their use in wounds of these parts even 
if they could be properly adjusted and retained. 
The substances recommended to the readers of the depart¬ 
ment of surgery, for the purpose of protecting trunk wounds, 
are :— 
1. Tarry substances : 
(a) Pine charcoal tar. 
(b) Canada balsam. 
(c) Rosin and oil mixtures. 
2. Ether mixtures : 
(a) Collodion. 
( b ) Flexible collodion. 
(V) Iodoform ether 5%: 
(d) Saturated solution of rosin in ether. 
2. Drying powders : 
(a) Iodoform sugar. 
( b) Iodoform starch. 
(c) Boric acid. 
(d) Europhen. 
(e) Protargol. 
4. Miscellaneous substances : 
(a) Creolin. 
(b) Kerosene. 
(c) Mercuric chlorid 1%. 
( d ) Chlorozone. 
5. Cotton wool and oakum. 
Tarry Substances. —The preparations above enumerated are 
frequently useful in protecting sutured wounds of the body, but 
have the disadvantage of becoming too liquid at the heat of the 
body and thus impair their usefulness. On a small wound pine 
tar, or, what is still better, Canada balsam, smeared over the sur¬ 
face and then matted with cotton wool will occasionally give 
some satisfaction. A mixture of rosin, seven parts, and castor"oil, 
one part, mixed by the aid of heat, will firmly adhere to the skin 
but like the tars will not promptly become hard at the heat of 
the body, and if made harder by the addition of more rosin it 
would have to be applied hot, hot enough to burn the tissues. 
A substance that is liquid enough to smear over a wound, at a 
temperature of about no° Falir., and that would become hard¬ 
ened yet flexible at the temperature of the body, cannot readily 
be found. 
Ether Mixtures .—These mixtures on account of being 
easily applied as well as for their perfect occlusive properties 
