Cotton In Surgery

1895

The fact is noted in a technical journal of the already considerable as well as rapidly increasing quantity of cotton fiber that is annually consumed in the manufacture of absorbent cotton for surgical uses. The process of preparing the raw cotton for such purposes is given as follows:

After boiling in a solution of potash, which eliminates all the greasy and waxy matter, the residue cotton is placed in a so called "whizzer" and dried. Being then treated to the medicating process by the use of such antiseptics as diluted corrosive sublimate and carbolic acid, the cotton is placed upon cards and run into laps, being thus made ready for the market, where it brings a comparatively high price. Prepared according to this method, the cotton is in admirable condition for the stanching and covering of wounds, and in the sickroom is regarded as equally valuable in its simple and effective action, absorbing, as it does, all moistures with great readiness.