SO  Preparation  of  Garbolized  Resin  Cloth.  {AM- 
Feb.  1, 1874. 
combined  with  resin  and  resinous  matters  generally  with  great  facili- 
ty, and  that  when  so  combined  nearly  all  its  irritating  acrid  proper- 
ties are  neutralized,  while  the  resulting  compound  retains  the  power 
of  evolving  an  antiseptic  vapor  at  the  temperature  of  the  body.  It  is 
well  known  that  to  touch  the  mucous  membrane,  or  even  the  skin  of 
the  lips,  with  pure  carbolic  acid,  occasions  pain  and  excoriation,  but 
the  author  found,  in  experimenting  on  a  mixture  of  one  part  of  car- 
bolic acid  and  five  parts  of  resin,  that  all  the  acridity  was  destroyed, 
the  acid  being  still  present,  but  stored  up  and  rendered  harmless  by 
the  new  combination.  He;  therefore,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
this  property  allowed  of  the  easy  preparation,  without  the  aid  of  heat, 
of  a  valuable  application  for  antiseptic  purposes  in  surgery ;  all  that 
would  be  required  was  the  saturation  of  a  very  thin  calico  gauze  with 
a  mixture  of  resin  and  acid  dissolved  in  methylated  spirit,  and  drying 
it  quickly  after  pressure  had  been  applied  to  it.  But  the  compound 
of  resin  and  acid  thus  left  on  the  threads  of  the  calico  after  evapora- 
tion was  found  to  be  too  brittle  and  adhesive  for  a  wound  covering, 
and  therefore  to  impart  flexibility  castor  oil  was  added,  as  being  the 
only  accessible  fixed  oil  entirely  soluble  in  spirits  of  wine.  The  au- 
thor finds  that  some  samples  of  castor  oil,  in  consequence  of  adultera- 
tion, are  not  entirely  soluble  in  alcohol,  but  he  is  content  to  use  an 
oil  that  will  unite  with  twice  its  bulk  of  rectified  spirit.  Mr.  Lund 
thus  describes  the  proportion  of  the  ingredients  and  the  preparation 
of  the  antiseptic  cloth  : 
"  Carbolic  Acid  Crystals  melted,      .       .      2  fluid  ounces. 
Castor  Oil,  2    "  ti 
Purified  Resin,  by  weight,      .       .       .16  ounces. 
Methylated  Spirit,         .       .       .       .40  fluid  ounces. 
Mix. 
"  To  dissolve  these  ingredients  easily,  we  must  add  them  together 
in  a  certain  order.  To  the  resin,  liquefied  by  heat  and  removed  from 
the  fire,  add  one-third  part  of  the  spirit ;  when  these  are  well  mixed, 
put  in  another  third  of  the  spirit,  in  which  the  oil  has  been  previous- 
ly dissolved ;  and,  lastly,  the  acid  in  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
spirit  must  be  slowly  added  to  complete  the  mixture.  The  whole 
must  be  agitated  until  all  the  constituents  are  thoroughly  incorporate  d 
and  afterwards  passed  through  a  muslin  filter  to  get  rid  of  any  extra- 
neous matters.  If  this  plan  be  not  adopted,  the  resin  will  concrete 
into  a  mass  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  and  it  will  be  extremely  diffi- 
