Introduction
One of the surprising facets of wound-healing investigations is the fact that the workers in the field have been unable to agree upon a standard tensiometric technique. This is unfortunate, as it makes it difficult to compare reported results adequately, since many are reported in grams or other weight units, while others are stated in millimeters of mercury.Those results reported in units of weight are generally obtained by cutting the wounds into transverse strips of standard width. The strips so obtained are then placed on tension by the addition of weight (either by a gradated addition of weights, or preferably by a tensiometer) until the healing wound splits apart. The tension (expressed in grams or other weight measure) at which this disruption occurs is declared the tensile strength of the wound. This kind of tensiometry is well described in Howes' original articles.1The second kind of method