I have had so many inquiries concerning an article on the treatment of bone cavities published in The Journal, May 20, 1905, that it seemed that a brief paper on the same topic might interest the members of this Section.
The obliteration of dead space in the soft tissues is a very simple matter since we have learned to use buried catgut sutures, and the treatment of abscesses of the soft parts by incision and drainage is usually followed by speedy convalescence. The obliteration of dead space in bone, however, has been very unsatisfactory. In fact, it has been so difficult that in the majority of cases we have not tried to fill the cavity, but have treated it as an open wound until Nature furnished an epithelial lining for the whole cavity. The method of Neuber, in which the integument is turned into the bottom of the wound and