A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ing medicated applications within the uterine cavity. Washed cotton is always to be preferred where an aqueous solution is directed or for the absorption of bloody or serous discharges. It is inferior to raw cotton for the padding of splints, or for use as a protectant. Absorbent cotton has been medicated in a variety of ways. Cotton prepared with corrosive sublimate is probably the most used, and forms an important factor in the antiseptic dressing of wounds. Borated, salicylated and iodoformized cotton may be substituted, according to the wishes of the surgeon. Styptic cotton is of service rolled into a small pledget and laid directly over a bleeding point, or a thin layer may be placed on the surface to aid the formation of a clot. It may be of service, also, in cases of bleeding from small wounds of the venous sinuses in operations on the brain. All medicated cottons, it is assumed, are free from septic material, and are always to be preferred for the making of tampons or the plugging of wounds. Laid over the gauze and retained by bandages, they constitute antiseptic dressings. Diseases of the Ear and Nose.—The advantage formerly sup- posed to accrue from Artificial Ear Drums can now be obtained by pledgets of cotton or a circular piece of lint adapted to the orifice. It would appear that this advantage is not to imitate a portion of the tympanic membrane, but to serve as a protectant to the mucous lining of the middle ear. Absorbent cotton in some forms of auditory discharge (especially those that occur in very young children) becomes clogged by tenacious muco-pus and acts as plugs to the meatus. It may, there- fore, serve in a manner directly opposite that which is expected. When such disposition is noted it is necessary to anoint the conch with lard or cosmoline before using the cotton, or, what perhaps is better, discard it and substitute lamb's wool. Soft cotton thread can be medicated for application to the middle ear. Kirchner denominates sublimate cord a thread of cotton rendered absorbent and saturated in corrosive subli- mate solution v.). Hopmann, of Cologne {Berlin KUji. Woch., No. 42, 1888), uses cotton tampons for the treatment of Nasal Polypus. Cotton tampons may be used conveniently in the nostril in the shape of absorbent lamp-wick. To be used in the nose they can be soaked in solutions of bichloride of mercury, 1-3000 or 1-5000. Diseases of the Eye.—Absorbent cotton is very extensively used in ophthalmic surgery, and, in the interest of economy and cleanliness, has almost banished sponges and brushes. A little pledget twisted on the end of a probe or cotton holder or small stick answers all the purposes of a brush and can be thrown away when it has been once used. Cotton is also universally used for eye compresses and for the application of hot stupes. It is a convenient means of applying dry heat in ophthalmic practice.