moss at wound dressing in WWI?

[drhess]

Ok, a host of questions from the quote below, but mainly:

1. Did WWI soldiers (or others with wounds) really do this? (What region of the war front?)
2. Is the finding true?

“…World War I soldiers whose wounds were packed in moss had a higher survival rate than those who had their wounds wrapped with cotton.”

full article: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/10/29/2009-10-29_george_clooney_buys_estate_next_to_brad_pitt_angelina_jolie_in_france.html

[drhess]

Anybody? Moss as wound dressing seems a good Q for the Master, no?

[Squink]

General directions for making sphagnum dressings

… The frame is filled
evenly with moss but not packed. Over this a thin layer of cotton is
placed and the frame removed. The margins of the zorbik are then
folded over the cotton and sphagnum. It is usually convenient to use
spring clothes-pins to hold the ends in place, although this is not abso-
lutely necessary. In order to keep the outside covering free from par-
ticles of moss it is best to remove this incomplete pad to another table
where there is no moss. Here it may be finished by the same worker or
by another, A piece of gauze of appropriate size is spread out on the
table and the incomplete pad on the center of it, with the non-absorbent
cotton up, A thicker layer of cotton is then put over the pad, extending
about %-inch (1,3 cm,) beyond the edges. The gauze is folded over the
pad so that the long fold is on the back, that is, on the side next the
non-absorbent cotton. The open ends are folded in “muff-wise,”

PUBLICATIONS-PUGET SOUND BIOLOGICAL STATION
Volume 2, 1918-1920

[hibernicus]

I’ve used moss as a field dressing. I was in a forest and cut myself badly with a knife (an accident caused by extreme stupidity, the details of which I don’t want to revisit). I was bleeding profusely and had almost a mile to walk back to the car. A handful of moss was convenient, sterile and effective at staunching the bleeding.

[drhess]

Interesting. Moss is really sterile?

[monstro]

An instructor of mine once told us that people used spagnum moss as sanitary napkins back in the day.

[needscoffee]

@monstro

An instructor of mine once told us that people used spagnum moss as sanitary napkins back in the day.

Did they have a higher survival rate than those who used cotton?