3S 
Modern  Surgical  Dressings. 
( Am.  Jour.  Puarm. 
\    January,  1897. 
( 1)  The  work  of  preparing  surgical  materials,  its  importance,  its  requirements. 
(2)  Definition  and  meaning  of  terms. 
(3)  Nature  of  the  material  used  in  dressings.    (Fibres,  cloth,  ligatures,  etc.) 
(4)  Preparation  of  materials,  bleaching,  rendering  absorbent,  etc. 
(5)  Kinds  of  dressings  used  in  modern  surgical  practice. 
(6)  Uses  to  which  dressings  are  put  in  surgery. 
(7)  Bacteria,  their  nature,  conditions  of  growth,  multiplication,  products  of 
their  activity,  with  demonstrations  of  the  means  by  which  they  may  be  trans- 
ferred to  and  from  persons  and  things. 
(8)  Wound  infection. 
(9)  Infection  of  dressings. 
( 10)  Disinfection — chemical  agents  and  physical  agents, 
(n)  Exclusion  of  bacteria. 
(12)  Sterilization. 
(13)  Disinfection  of  persons  and  things. 
(14)  Asepsis  and  aseptic  technique  in  the  preparation  of  dressings. 
The  entire  course  in  my  practice  occupies  several  months — in  fact, 
becomes  a  continuous  course,  as  additional  methods  are  constantly 
brought  into  practice. 
Surgical  Dressings  in  Commerce. — Dr.  Gerster,  in  one  of  his  ad- 
dresses, condemned  the  use  of  ready-made  products  as  sold  in  the 
drug  store,  on  the  ground  that  the  gauge  of  success  is  purely  com- 
mercial, only  directed  solely  to  profit. 
Another  writer  affirms  that  the  standard  of  such  dressings  is  com- 
mercial in  nature,  the  essential  requisite  being  profit,  and  that  they 
must  be  sold  to  meet  competition.  That  in  this  the  requirements 
of  surgery  are  matters  of  indifference  and  generally  matters  of  igno- 
rance. 
These  statements  were  corroborated  in  a  recent  instance  by  a 
druggist  in  one  of  our  large  cities,  who  is  commercially  wise.  He 
stated  that  to  him  quality,  kind  or  make  was  no  factor.  Low  prices 
were  the  sole  criterion  of  value.  Responsibility  hovers  over  every 
field  of  the  pharmacist's  activity  in  dispensing  dressings  ;  we  share 
the  burden  with  the  surgeon.  Whoever  has  stood  beside  the  sur- 
geon in  his  operating  room  and  realized  how  much  depended  on 
not  only  the  hand,  the  training  and  the  skill  of  the  operator,  but  the 
absolute  cleanliness  in  every  movement,  must  realize  that  there 
are  some  things  that  cannot  be  expressed  in  a  money  ratio. 
At  such  a  time  and  in  such  a  place  the  integrity  of  the  dressing 
rises  to  supreme  importance.  Any  neglect  in  its  preparation,  any 
misstep  through  the  ignorance,  cupidity  and  stupidity  of  any  who 
