Lectures on nursing / by William Robert Smith.

  • Smith, William Robert, 1850-1932.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on nursing / by William Robert Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    gentle pressure of a cloth, it will be found to adhere; and in some cases, to a slight extent, control the haemorrhage. Collodion contracts so very strongly, that it should be put on in one layer, once for all; not in repeated layers, else the last that are put on will drag off those which were first applied. Another plan of dressing wounds, about which it would be perhaps advisable to say a word or two, is that commonly known as Professor Lister’s treatment of wounds by carbolic acid. The basis of the carbolic acid plan of treatment is the exposure of the wound to the air as little as possible; and, when this is neces- sary, a spray of carbolic acid lotion is kept constantly playing upon it. All instruments, and the fingers of the surgeon or nurse, are first dipped in carbolic lotion before being employed. After the wound has been cleansed, Professor Lister’s “ protective plaster,” previously soaked in carbolic lotion, consisting of one part of carbolic acid to forty parts of water, is applied. This is a greenish - looking plaster, very much re- sembling oil-silk. Over this, Lister’s lac-plaster is placed — a light brown plaster, made, I believe, from shel-lac. This also must be soaked in car- bolic lotion before being used. The whole is then kept constantly moistened with the lotion, and changed once in three or four days. Bruises and contusions present every possible variety. In the treatment of them, cold will be generally used; and this must be applied in any way