AFebiuaryP?9™' J      ^he  Laboratory  in  War  Time.  127 
few  have  been  supplied  that  absolutely  fulfill  the  desired  conditions 
of  the  originator  of  the  method. 
An  accurately  and  properly  prepared  Dakin  Solution,  accom- 
panied with  Carrel  technique,  has  accomplished  marvelous  results. 
On  the  other  hand  many  solutions  have  been  supplied  that  are 
useless  or  dangerous. 
All  this  has  thrown  upon  laboratories  like  that  with  which  the 
writer  is  connected  a  vast  amount  of  work.  Thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  experiments  had  to  be  made  in  order  to  evolve  a  process 
by  which  the  correct  so-called  Dakin  Solution  could  be  supplied  to 
the  profession  in  a  way  that  would  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
Carrel  Method. 
Likewise  out  of  the  war  has  come  the  use  of  the  parafnne  films 
for  the  dressing  of  burns — apparently  simple  but  really  working  out 
only  after  a  long  continuous  struggle. 
An  interesting  complication  which  has  occurred  in  the  writer's 
laboratory  has  arisen  by  reason  of  the  scarcity  of  cotton  fiber. 
When  the  war  broke  out  cotton  was  literally  a  drag  upon  the  market 
and  everybody  was  besought  to  "  buy  a  bale."  Now  it  takes  a  good 
round  bank  account  to  buy  a  bale  of  the  commodity  which  only  a 
few  months  ago  could  be  purchased  for  a  song. 
It  is  to  be  expected  that  there  will  be  other  commodities  in  which 
there  will  be  a  shortage,  some  of  which  will  undoubtedly  reach  the 
famine  point. 
As  we  go  on  towards  the  close  of  the  war  we  may  anticipate 
increasing  complications.  There  will  be  evolutions  and  revolutions 
and  they  may  come  thick  and  fast.  The  only  thing  to  do  is  to  be 
prepared  to  meet  them.  One  thing  seems  evident — that  some  good 
will  come  out  of  the  conflict. 
Already  we  see  indications  of  an  improvement  in  the  products 
and  methods  of  American  pharmaceutical  manufacturers.  The  war 
has  been  prolific  in  lessons  of  retrenchment  and  simplification. 
American  manufacturers  are,  more  than  ever  before,  self-contained. 
Drugs  and  preparations  are  becoming  more  and  more  standardized; 
there  has  been  the  securing  of  a  uniformity  in  the  methods  of 
manufacturing,  packaging,  and  in  all  things  connected  with  the  art. 
Many  useless  preparations  have  been  eliminated  and  more  will 
follow. 
We  can  stand  more  and  more  of  the  movement  which  attempts 
to  define  what  is  essential  and  what  is  non-essential  in  our  American 
