24  Modern  Surgical  Dressings.         { A,ja?S2^fisKm* 
MODERN  SURGICAL  DRESSINGS. 
By  F.  B.  Kii^mkr. 
The  surgical  dressings  in  use  at  the  present  time  by  such  practi- 
tioners as  keep  pace  with  the  advancement  of  the  surgical  art  are 
the  products  of  the  practical  application  of  scientific  knowledge. 
They  are  the  outcome  of  the  modifications  and  amplification  of  pro- 
cedures that  have  been  brought  about  in  the  evolution  of  surgical 
science. 
Dr.  Wm.  Pepper  states  that  "  medicine  and  surgery  have  made 
more  progress  in  the  last  twenty  years  than  in  the  twenty  centuries 
preceding."  This  statement  may  also  be  applied  to  the  surgical 
dressing. 
In  the  dawn  of  the  present  era  of  surgery,  the  teachings  of  Lister 
demanded  that  the  dressings  to  be  applied  to  a  wound  should  be 
saturated  with  chemicals  capable  of  killing  germs  "  within  the 
wound  or  coming  from  without."  During  this  epoch  antiseptics 
were  empirically  applied.  A  dressing  that  promised  sure  death  to 
the  microbe  was  in  demand.  In  those  days  cloth  was  plastered 
with  masses  of  pitch,  paraffin  fat  and  carbolic  acid.  The  products 
were  unclean — sticky,  irritating  and  non-absorptive — directly  the 
opposite  to  those  in  use  at  the  present  time.  Crude  as  was  this 
beginning,  it  contained  the  "  living  spark  of  truth  that  illuminated 
the  mysterious  darkness  which  for  centuries  hovered  over  wound 
infection."  It  brought  blessings  that  "  have  soothed  and  removed 
untold  suffering  and  misery — have  saved  millions  of  lives.  For  this 
gift  to  surgery  we  are  indebted  to  Sir  Joseph  Lister." — Gerster. 
During  the  decades  that  have  followed  the  time  of  which  we 
speak,  the  forward  progress  of  the  principles  of  antisepsis  has  been 
continuous. 
The  accurate  scientific  observations  of  bacteriology  has  determined 
the  value  of  antiseptic  substances,  brought  a  knowledge  of  the  na- 
ture of  bacteria,  their  habits,  their  life,  and  shown  their  influence  in 
the  causation  of  wound  infection.  Such  knowledge  has  given  to 
the  surgeon  newer  and  better  weapons  than  those  first  used  in  the 
combat  against  wound  infection.  The  surgical  dressing  has  always 
been  to  the  front  in  the  revolution  and  evolution  of  surgery.  Caus- 
tic applications  were  early  substituted  for  those  which  were  mild, 
yet  more  potent.    Many  microbe-killers  were  found  to  be  man- 
