4i6 
Standard  Surgical  Dressings. 
JAm.  Jour.  I'harui. 
I   Septt-mlKM-,  lyU. 
In  view  of  the  facts  cited,  and  for  other  reasons  which  might 
be  urged,  it  would  seem  to  me  to  be  a  useless  proceeding  for  either 
the  Pharmacopoeia  or  the  National  Formulary  to  attempt  to  standard- 
ize surgical  dressings,  especially  those  of  the  antiseptic  or  medicated 
type. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  that  in  the  period  covered  by  the  Eighth 
Revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  this  type  of  dressings  has  radically 
changed,  and  for  the  most  part  has  gone  out  of  existence,  and  unless 
the  Pharmacopoeia  and  the  National  Fonuulary  are  revised  much 
more  rapidly  than  has  been  the  case  in  the  past,  any  such  standard- 
ization would  become  obsolete  soon  after  its  publication.  Antiseptic 
dressings  are  the  relics  of  a  rapidly  changing  practice — an  era  of 
surgery  which  has  passed,  and  thus  for  the  druggist,  belong  to  a 
declining  trade. 
As  of  some  slight  interest  we  may  here  insert  a  table  prepared 
sometime  ago  by  one  of  the  manufacturers  of  surgical  dressings, 
which  was  intended  to  show  the  consumption  of  surgical  dressings 
made  of  cotton.    It  is  as  follows : 
Cotton  Used  in  Surgery  in  the  United  States. 
1878 
1886 
1898 
1910 
Raw  cotton  (lb.)  
1,000 
5,000 
20,000 
25,000 
t:,ooo 
250,000 
3,000,000 
5,000,000 
Bandages  (lb.)  
10,000 
20,000 
100,000 
200,000 
Gauze  (yds.)  
1,200 
120,000 
20,000,000 
50,000,000 
Lint  (lb.)  
50,000 
45,000 
40,000 
40,000 
Miscellaneous  dressings  (lb.)  
500 
2,000 
20,000 
While  the  consumption  of  antiseptic  dressings  was  not  enumer- 
ated in  the  table,  it  may  be  stated  that  in  the  face  of  this  enormous 
increase  in  certain  types,  antiseptic  dressings  have  steadily  and 
rapidly  declined,  until  some  of  them  have  gone  out  of  existence. 
As  an  example  of  these  which  have  almost  entirely  disappeared  we 
may  instance  salicylated  acid  cotton,  styptic  cotton,  iodized  cotton, 
iodoform  cotton,  Lister's  cyanide  of  mercury  and  zinc  gauze,  and 
salalembroth  cotton  and  gauze. 
Various  formulas  for  antiseptic  cottons  and  gauzes  may  be 
found  in  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Codex,  the  French  Codex,  and 
Dcitricirs  Pharmazcutisches  Manuel,  and  other  works  to  which  the 
