Re: Scraping Lint
Roger Adams (RADAM00@ukcc.uky.edu)
Mon, 18 Apr 1994 13:58:39 ECT
In response to Lynne DeMont's question about lint, I can only offer a brief ex-
planation of its use to 19th century physicians... In surgery, lint was used
directly in the wound after the bullet, bone, etc., was removed to "draw" out
"laudable pus." The more pus that was generated, it was believed, the better
the wound would heal. Thus, this often increased infection as a wound might be
reopened several times so that more lint could be placed inside to draw more
pus. The whole process is known as "suppuration." For more detail, any mid-
century surgical text should suffice.
Roger Adams,
University of Kentucky Special Collections and Archives