A  Peb!T;mlRM'}  Preparation  of  Garbolized  Resin  Cloth.  81 
cult  afterwards  to  get  it  perfectly  mixed.  When  thus  prepared,  the 
solution  is  of  a  dark  color,  clear  and  free  from  any  deposit ;  and  it 
can  be  kept  unchanged,  in  a  well  corked  bottle,  for  a  long  time.  It 
is,  in  fact,  a  kind  of  thick  varnish.  To  make  the  resin  cloth,  as  I 
term  it,  for  the  sake  of  distinguishing  it  from  the  cere-cloth  dressing 
for  wounds,  which  I  described  in  a  paper  read  at  the  Leeds  meeting 
of  the  British  Medical  Association  in  1869,  it  is  needful  to  select  a 
very  thin,  cheap,  porous  calico  or  calico-muslin,  known  in  the  trade 
as  '  mulls,'  which  costs  at  wholesale  price  about  four  shillings  per 
piece  of  twenty  yards.  This,  divided  into  strips,  each  about  nine 
inches  wide  and  six  yards  long,  is  reduced  to  a  convenient  form  for 
general  use.  The  calico  should  be  unbleached  and  free  from  stiffen- 
ing, and  each  of  the  strips  should  be  carefully  folded  up,  so  as  just  to 
lie  flatly  in  the  press,  as  I  am  about  to  explain. 
"  An  ordinary  square  tincture  press  may  be  used  to  press  the  cloth^ 
or  such  a  press  as  is  sold  for  copying  letters,  to  which  a  tin  box  has 
been  adapted,  so  that  the  plates  of  the  press  can  work  in  it ;  and  into 
this  box  the  folded  calico  is  placed,  the  solution  being  poured  over 
each  successive  layer,  so  as  to  wet  perfectly  every  part  of  it.  There 
should  be  an  aperture  at  the  bottom  of  the  box,  with  a  tap  by  which 
the  superfluous  fluid  can  be  removed,  collected  and  used  a  second 
time.  The  press  being  brought  into  action,  the  pile  of  calico  should 
be  squeezed  as  dry  as  possible,  all  the  fluid  drained  off,  the  resin-cloth 
taken  out,  laid  over  a  few  lines  of  string  in  a  warm  room  with  a  good 
ventilation  ;  and  in  an  hour  or  two,  when  all  traces  of  smell  of  the 
methylated  spirit  have  departed,  the  cloth  may  be  rolled  up  and  kept 
in  tin  cases  ready  for  use. 
"  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  state  the  exact  cost  of  resin-cloth  made 
by  this  process,  for  I  have  not  yet  bought  the  materials  for  its  pre- 
paration at  such  prices  as  could  be  had  if  it  were  to  be  manufactured 
in  large  quantities ;  but,  allowing  for  some  slight  reduction,  where  six 
or  eight  twenty-yard  pieces  of  calico  are  bought  at  a  time,  and  the 
solution  made  by  the  gallon,  I  find  it  comes  to  a  fraction  less  than 
threepence  per  yard  of  average  width  of  44  inches.  In  using  it  as  a 
dressing  for  wounds,  I  deal  with  it  precisely  as  I  would  do  with  Mr. 
Lister's  antiseptic  gauze,  for  which  it  must  be  taken  as  a  cheap  and 
ready  substitute.  I  generally  apply  ten  folds  of  it  over  the  face  of  a 
Wound,  as  in  an  amputation,  and  perhaps  six  folds  higher  up  the  limb 
for  some  distance,  and  I  cover  it  with  the  macintosh  hat-lining,  so  as 
6 
