424 
Standard  Surgical  Pressings. 
j  All).  Jour.  Pliarin. 
\    S.'iJtciiit.ci,  1911. 
Conclusion. 
A  summary  of  the  thoughts  embraced  in  the  foreg-oing  paper 
is  as  follows : 
The  rapidly  changing  conditions  of  surgical, methods  would  not 
seem  to  warrant  the  insertion  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  or 
in  the  National  Formulary  formula  for  the  preparation  of  antiseptic 
surgical  dressings.  Any  standard  adopted  for  medication  for  sur- 
gical dressings  would  be  liable  to  become  valueless  long  before 
the  next  revision.  A  standard  for  antiseptic  dressings  once  em- 
bodied in  the  Pharmacopoeia  would  become  complicated  in  the 
administration  of  food  and  drug  laws  by  the  constantly  changing 
requirements  of  surgical  practice. 
It  might  be  possible  to  establish  official  methods  of  assay  by 
which  antiseptic  dressings  could  be  judged.  The  standard  for 
absorbent  cotton  in  the  eighth  revision  of  the  United  States  Pharma- 
copoeia should  be  revised,  and  a  standard  is  suggested  herein.  It 
would  be  possible  to  establish  a  standard  by  which  surgical  gauze 
and  dressings  made  therefrom  could  be  judged. 
The  principal  requirements  for  surgical  dressings  made  of  cotton 
or  gauze  at  the  present  time  are  purity  and  sterility ;  such  dressings 
are  known  as  plain  aseptic  dressings. 
In  the  author's  opinion,  neither  the  facilities  of  the  practicing 
physician,  the  hospital,  nor  those  of  the  ordinary  pharmacist  are 
adequate  for  the  preparation  of  dressings  to  meet  modern  require- 
ments. The  preparation  of  this  class  of  material,  like  that  of 
serums,  toxins,  and  the  like,  recjuires  special  training  and  special 
facilities  for  their  manufacture.  Until  economic  conditions  shall 
greatly  change  it  is  the  author's  opinion  that  the  preparation  of  this 
class  of  material  had  best  be  relegated  to  those  possessing  the 
required  facilities. 
