The operating-table hazard that surgeons dread most is persistent bleeding. Last week the Journal of the American Medical Association reported successful experiments with a magical new substance which stops bleeding almost quicker than a surgeon can say hemorrhagiparous (hemorrhage-causing). The substance: gelatin sponge.
Surgeon Hilger P. Jenkins and three colleagues at the University of Chicago School of Medicine put the sponge to the severest tests on 80 dogs. They cut the heart, liver, veins, arteries, then capped the gushing wounds with pads of dry gelatin sponge. In almost every case, bleeding stopped in a few minutes. In less drastic operations on...
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