The Search for an Ideal Wound Dressing

on a Sumerian clay tablet dating from about 2500 B.C. It describes the cleansing of wounds with water and milk followed by a dressing with honey and resin. The Egyptians discovered that a closed wound will heal faster than a wound which is left open. They devised an adhesive dressing by applying gum to linen strips which were applied to draw the edges of an open wound together. The Ebers papyrus advocates dressing open wounds with honey, or resins such as frankincense and myrrh. The Egyptians also used a green copper pigment obtained from malachite or chryscolla, which was also used as a colouring for eye adornment, and has since been shown to