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Twenty-five years ago I was taught to pack every radical mastoidectomy cavity with iodoform gauze. This procedure was carried out for many weeks and months, gave untold suffering to the patient and tried the patience of the surgeon. After that came the use of stents, mostly those made from paraffin or some form of wax. They were a decided improvement and are still much used.
In skin grafting it has been a problem to hold the grafts in place. Dench used small Thiersch grafts held by tiny pellets of cotton dipped in an antiseptic powder. This method has merit but is time consuming and laborious. It occurred to me that it is much simpler to use a sterilized finger cot and blow it up with air from a syringe, tying off the neck with silk and doubling it over so that air may be well retained. After the grafts are