420 
Standard  Surgical  Dressiiigs. 
f  Am,  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    .SeiJteiuber,  1911. 
Surgical  gauze  in  the  operating  room  acts  primarily  as  a  cover- 
ing and  protective,  and  if  of  sufficient  thickness  filters  the  external 
air  that  passes  through  to  the  wound.  It  is  hrm  enough  to  hring 
together  any  incised  or  separated  parts,  its  fihres  act,  to  a  certain 
extent,  as  plugs  or  compressors  to  the  small  blood-vessels  which 
may  have  been  severed.  The  absorptive  power  of  good  gauze  is 
ample  to  receive  and  retain  a  sufficient  quantity  of  blood  to  coagu- 
late and  coat  the  injured  part  and  thereby  check  the  flow. 
Gauze  is  also  employed  to  absorb  discharges  which  would  infect 
the  surrounding  area  if  not  seized  upon  by  an  absorbent  and  re- 
moved. In  the  early  technic  antiseptics  of  disinfectants  were  used 
to  impregnate  gauze  dressings.  In  modern  surgery  a  piece  of 
sterile  gauze  is  sometimes  the  only  dressing  employed. 
Taken  altogether  surgical  gauze  may  be  considered  the  most 
convenient  and  the  most  useful  dressing  material  now  known. 
Gauze  cloth  in  the  cotton  trade  is  known  as  "Cheese  Cloth," 
"  Tobacco  Cloth,"  or  unbleached  gauze,  and  it  is  quite  distinct  from 
surgical  gauze,  although  large  quantities  of  the  former  are  used  for 
surgical  purposes.  In  England  and  on  the  Continent  gauze  is  spun 
and  woven  solely  for  surgical  uses,  and  there  is  one  such  maker 
in  the  United  States. 
The  method  of  preparing  cotton  fibre  for  manufacture  into  sur- 
gical gauze  is  described  in  the  paper  heretofore  cited,  and  consists 
of  a  long  series  of  mechanical  and  chemical  processes,  a  description 
of  which  lies  outside  of  our  present  purpose. 
In  the  surgical  gauzes  as  found  on  the  market  there  is  a  marked 
variation  in  the  length  of  the  fibre,  the  size  and  weight  of  the  thread, 
yardage  per  pound,  and  other  physical  and  chemical  characteristics. 
The  earlier  surgical  gauzes  were  made  of  Egyptian  cotton,  carried 
an  equal  number  of  threads  each  way,  and  were  hand-finished.  The 
hand-finish  process  kept  the  thread  straight,  the  final  product  was 
less  white,  but  more  elastic. 
In  some  samples  of  gauze  in  our  market  there  will  be  found 
certain  dressings  or  loadings  added  to  improve  appearance,  to  in- 
crease the  weight,  to  assist  in  holding  the  gauze  out  to  its  full  width, 
and  the  like. 
In  the  cotton  trade,  gauze  and  cloths  of  this  character  are 
standardized  by  taking  a  square  and  counting  the  number  of  threads 
per  square  inch.  For  example,  a  high-grade  gauze  carrying  forty 
longitudinal  and  forty-four  cross  threads  per  square  inch,  carried 
eighty-four  inches  of  thread. 
