Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ( 
September,  1911.  J 
Standard  Surgical  Dressings. 
423 
colleges,  where  students  and  operators  carry  infection  from  hun- 
dreds of  sources  of  contagion,  and  where  the  dangers  of  infection 
can  scarcely  be  avoided. 
When  dressings  are  prepared  by  the  pharmacist  the  work  is  of 
necessity  performed  in  the  druggist's  back  room — a  place  which 
comes  far  short  of  conditions  known  as  surgical  cleanliness.  The 
pharmacist,  though  ordinarily  clean  in  person  and  habits  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  calling,  is  far  from  aseptic.  Like  the  physician, 
he  is  constantly  in  contact  with  infection  through  the  person  of  his 
patrons. 
In  a  few  terse  sentences  Mr.  Beringer  attempts  tO'  convert  the 
druggist's  work  table  into  a  room  suitable  for  the  preparation  of 
aseptic  dressings.  I  doubt  his  ability,  or  the  ability  of  the  average 
pharmacist,  to  take  these  products  into  his  own  back  room  and 
produce  therefrom  sterile  dressings.  In  advance,  I  would  acknowl- 
edge my  own  inability  to  do  so,  notwithstanding  a  generation  of 
experience  along  these  lines,  and  should  the  necessity  arise  for  an 
important  operation  in  my  own  case,  I  certainly  would  reject  dress- 
ings prepared  either  in  a  hospital,  a  physician's  office,  or  the  pharma- 
cist's back  room  in  favor  of  these  made  by  a  reliable  manufacturer. 
The  facilities  of  the  manufacturer  whose  whole  organization  is 
adapted  to  the  production  of  surgical  dressings  are  certainly  more 
perfect  than  those  of  the  surgeon  to  whorh  such  work  is  only  inci- 
dental ;  the  employment  of  a  room  from  which  pathogenic  organisms 
are  entirely  excluded  is  superior  to  the  conditions  in  the  hospital 
or  doctor's  office.  Rooms  in  which  no  work  is  undertaken  except  the 
handling  of  aseptic  material  will  certainly  be  more  nearly  surgically 
clean  than  a  place  where  infection  has  constant  access.  Persons 
whose  only  calling  is  that  of  preparing  surgical  material,  who  have 
been  trained  in  the  principles  underlying  the  disinfection  of  dress- 
ings, are  much  more  competent  to  handle  the  same  than  the  doctor's 
assistant  to  whom  such  work  is  of  necessity  relegated.  Further,  an 
organization  devoted  exclusively  to  the  manufacture  of  dressings, 
once  having  the  table  arranged  to  prepare  a  yard  of  dressing,  can 
produce  any  number  of  yards  more  perfectly  than  if  done  as 
occasion  may  require. 
To  the  manufacturer  and  the  dispensing  pharmacist  is  due  the 
credit  of  having  made  possible  the  convenient  application  of  the 
principles  of  modern  surgery. 
