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.

    103/554 (page 91)
    General Surgery—Water, since the earliest time, has held an im- portant place in local therapeutics, forming, with other substances, the basis of nearly all liquid preparations. When employed as an adjuvant it is important that water should be as pure as possible. Many runnmg waters and well waters, owing to the nature of the surroundmg soil and proximity to decomposing animal and vegetable substances, are unfit for surgical purposes. . Distilled water of the shops is considered to be pure, although it fre- quently partakes of the character of the still through which it passes, and thus may contain in solution salts or oxides of lead, iron, or copper. In hospital practice, distilled water may be collected from the ''steam plant, ordinarily employed in conveying steam for purposes of heating the buildings. The water may be collected from the iron pipes of dis- tribution, or from the exhaust of the engine, when it will be found to contain small globules of oil. Under all circumstances it is well to filter and boil distilled water before using. Closely stoppered glass bottles are the best vessels in which to preserve distilled water. In the absence of distilled water, spring, rain, river or cistern water may be substituted. Such water should be filtered and boiled before being used in flushing serous cavities. It is important that it be freshly prepared. Water acts chiefly as a direct means of modifying temperature; if applied cold it abstracts heat from the body, and is a sedative. Water at a higher temperature than the body may be considered to act as a stimulant. , As it is a property of all living organisms to react against what tends to depress them, cold applied to the body, in a certain measure and for a fixed time, produces a diminished activity of function, but this is followed by a greater degree of activity than that which origi- nally existed. In this manner the primary effect of heat and the second- ary effect of cold resemble each other. Hence it may be seen that different degrees of heat and cold may produce various grades of eff'ect, from a mild to a powerful stimulation, and thence to the destruction of vitality. Celsus mentions the value of cold water in arresting Hemorrhage, and that the healing of slight wounds is facilitated by the application of a sponge saturated with cold water. In the treatment of Contused and Lacerated Wounds, water dress- ings are held in high repute. They may readily be combined with germicidal or deodorizing agents. The simplest way of applying a water dressing is, after adjusting the parts, to apply over them pieces of old linen or lint which have been saturated with water, renewing them as often as they become deprived of their moisture. The following method is recommended when irrigation is resorted to :