180 
VARIETIES. 
A  Substitute  for  Lint. — Mr.  J.  R.  A.  Douglas,  formerly  house  surgeon, 
Middlesex  Hospital,  in  a  letter  to  the  Lancet,  July  23,  recommends  the 
following  substitute  for  lint,  -which  is  in  extensive  use  in  the  Parisian  hos- 
pitals : — "  I  have  Anglicised  it  by  the  name  of  <  pink/  as  pinking  is  the 
process  by  which  it  is  made.  It  is  merely  cheap  cotton  perforated  by  a 
common  punch.  The  long-cloth  is  folded  some  fourteen  times,  and  holes 
are  driven  through  it  with  a  hammer  and  a  sixpenny  punch  on  a  piece  of 
lead.  The  holes  are  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  twice 
their  breadth  from  each  other.  My  firm  having  been  for  many  years  sur- 
geons to  Messrs.  Curtis  and  Harvey's  powder-mills,  I  have  had  opportuni- 
ties of  testing  it  in  burns  and  other  large  suppurating  surfaces.  These 
being  extremely  sensitive,  do  not  require  the  removal  of  the  pink  so  fre- 
quently as  lint  or  other  applications,  as  the  pus  passing  through  the  per- 
forations is  easily  removed  with  a  soft  sponge,  which  cannot  be  done  with 
other  applications,  nor  will  the  highly  vascular  granulations  in  burns  bear 
the  sponge  when  uncovered.  I  have  found  it  very  useful  in  gun-shot 
wounds,  and  in  compound  fractures,  where,  as  a  perforated  bandage,  it 
gives  support  without  confining  the  discharge,  which  never  accumulates 
under  it ;  and  when  removed,  the  surface  is  covered  with  healthy  lymph 
without  pus.  Mr.  Ashbee,  the  intelligent  manager  of  Messrs.  Curtis's 
powder-mills,  has  promised  to  prepare  some  linen  or  cotton  by  their  elabo- 
rate machinery,  if  possible ;  in  the  meantime,  the  hospital  patient,  nearly 
convalescent,  would  be  grateful  for  the  occupation  to  relieve  his  monotony, 
and  the  cheapness  of  material  and  instruments  makes  it  worthy  of  trial. 
Any  ointment  may  be  spread  on  it ;  and  where  large  pieces  are  used,  it 
can  be  rewashed. —  Chemist  and  Druggist,  Sept.  1859. 
For  Bleaching  Ivory.  —The  process  for  bleaching  bone  and  ivory  is  as 
follows  :  the  bone  or  ivory  is  first  to  be  rubbed  with  pounded  pumice-stone 
and  water,  and  then  placed  moist  under  a  glass  shade,  which  must  be  well 
luted  to  the  stand  at  the  bottom,  and  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun.  The 
sun's  rays,  without  the  glass  shade,  would  bo.  likely  to  produce  fissures  or 
cracks  in  the  bone  or  ivory.  The  moist  rubbing  and  exposure  may  be 
continued  until  the  desired  whiteness  is  attained.  Beasley  says  a  solu- 
tion of  sulphuric  acid  will  bleach  ivory. — (Correspondent.) — Chemist  and 
Druggist,  Jan.  1860. 
