Am.  Jour.  Pharru.  1 
January,  1897.  / 
Modern  Surgical  Dressings. 
35 
Where  no  antiseptic  has  been  employed,  sterilized  potatoes  and 
other  solid  media  have  been  found  convenient. 
The  required  test  is  the  presence  or  absence  of  a  growth  which 
will  liquefy  solid  media  or  produce  form,  color  or  odor  characteristic 
of  bacterial  colonies. 
This  is  verified  when  deemed  necessary  by  a  microscopical  exami- 
nation. In  surgical  bacteriology,  the  bacillus  of  anthrax  is  used  as  the 
standard  test  organism  ;  whatever  will  destroy  the  vitality  of  this 
bacillus  will  destroy  all  the  known  organisms  of  wound  infection. 
Who  Should  Make  Surgical  Dressings. — In  the  past,  dressing 
materials  were  largely  the  product  of  domestic  industry  and  convict 
labor.  We  could  not  now  tolerate  supplies  from  such  disease- 
breeding  sources.  In  recent  discussions  by  surgical  authorities,  the 
question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  relative  fitness  of  the  surgeon, 
the  pharmacist  and  the  manufacturer  as  makers  and  purveyors  of 
surgical  materials. 
The  apostle  of  modern  surgery  manufactured  "  Lister's  Gauze  " 
in  his  own  kitchen.  Sir  Joseph's  kitchen  is  doubtless  a  more  fitting 
place  for  such  work  than  is  the  office  of  many  of  his  followers. 
Doctors'  offices  are  not,  as  a  rule,  the  most  wholesome  spots.  Their 
upholstered  furniture  is  in  constant  contact  with  the  clothing  and 
persons  of  patients  carrying  infections  of  every  name  and  kind. 
Their  tapestried  carpets  are  filled  with  dust  brought  from  pest-laden 
households.  In  the  doctor's  office  we  will  find  that  tables,  shelves, 
books  and  apparatus  are  spattered  with  debris  from  urinal  examina- 
tions, pus  from  foul  sores,  dried  excretions  from  diseased  skin, 
pathological  tissue,  clotted  blood  and  dried  discharges  from  innumer- 
able sources. 
Streams  of  infectious  matter  continually  pour  into  the  rooms  of 
the  busy  doctor  and  find  a  lodging-place  in  its  paraphernalia.  The 
unfitness  of  such  surroundings  for  the  production  of  surgically  clean 
dressings  is  evident. 
I  claim  for  the  American  physician  the  highest  of  honors.  I  all 
but  reverence  the  skill  and  genius  of  the  American  surgeon  ;  but 
before  I  would  attempt  to  prepare  aseptic  dressings  in  their  offices, 
I  should,  in  most  cases,  require  that  they  be  first  cleansed  and  disin- 
fected upon  the  lines  adopted  by  health  authorities  for  the  purifica- 
tion of  infected  premises. 
A  certain  hospital  claims  that  its  operating  room  is  "  the  cleanest 
