320 liston's isinglass plaster. 
Mr. Samwell observed, that the effects of a blister are very 
much modified by the natural texture of the skin, and that 
some persons are much less irritated by these applications 
than others. — Lond* Pharmaceutical Trans. Oct. 1, 1841. 
ART. LIX.—MR. LISTON'S ISINGLASS PLASTER. 
BY JACOB BELL. 
Mr. Liston has for many years been in the habit of using, 
after operations and for other surgical purposes, a plaster 
consisting of oiled silk covered with a coating of isinglass. 
This plaster is mentioned in his well known work on Practi- 
cal Surgery.* 
The following is the method of preparing it. Moisten an 
ounce of isinglass with two ounces of water, and allow it to 
stand for an hour or two until quite soft ; then add three 
ounces and a half of rectified spirit, previously mixed with one 
ounce and a half of water. Plunge the vessel in a saucepan 
of boiling water, and the solution will be complete in a few 
minutes. 
Having stretched the oil silk on a board, by nailing it 
round the edges, apply the solution of isinglass with a brush 
taking care to move the brush evenly and in the same direc- 
tion, making it smooth as you proceed — as in varnishing a 
picture. "When quite hard and dry apply another layer, in 
the same manner, but moving the brush in the opposite di- 
rection, in one case horizontally in the other perpendicularly. 
In this manner apply four coats of the solution, or even a 
fifth, if the surface be not entirely smooth. The last layer 
should be reduced in strength by the addition of a little more 
*Third Edition, p. 35. 
