spider's web + moss to stop bleeding?!

[forrestdweller]

it's raining here all afternoon and i'm stuck inside, so time to grab a book --Bernard Cornwell's "the bloody ground" (about the US civil war) to be exactly...
on page 324 (of my copy) is a mentioning of one character stuffing a mixture of spider's web and moss into entry and exit of a bullet wound in his leg to stop bleeding (which he carried in a tin for such a case so it can be presumed it's not fresh...) it's not the only mentioning of using spider's web and/ or moss for this purpose (iirc it's also used in a john wayne movie) i came across over the years...
is there actually some truth to it or is it just an old wives tale?! (i'm aware there's probably better solutions available nowadays so this is more for a "nothing else available and it's an emergency" type scenario )

 

[Wildgoose]

Sphagnum moss was certainly dried and used as dressings/wound packing in both world wars. Its naturally antibacterial too.

It’s absorbent with decent compression so I can see how it would be a reasonable packing material .

Read about cobwebs in Sharpe novels only

 

[oldtimer]

It's an old folk remedy. Shakespeare refers to the use of cobweb to put on a cut finger in Midsummer Night's Dream.

 

[Wayne]

Moss species can be quite absorbent and astringent so I expect they would have been used as an emergency bandage. Not something i would stick on a wound. I have used sea weed in the past to good effect.

I think ill stick to a haemostatic dressing for catastrophic bleeds.

 

[Toddy]

As a very little boy my Father spent time picking sphagnum moss with his Grandfather. They filled sackfuls. It was collected, picked clean, dried, and used to make dressing for the 'Front'. My Dad was born in 1911, so this was during WW1. He said that he had six Uncles all in Highland Regiments, so it was a kind of really good thing to do. One Uncle didn't come home, but his brothers survived.

Those bandages were common for a long time, and dry sphagnum was was used to pad babies nappies and for women's pads too. It works, it's absorbent, and mildly antibacterial, but you don't want debris fragments in a wound.

Spider's web....find the right kind of web.....do act as a kind of binding and it's not like cotton threads in a wound, the web will come off with the later washing. I don't think our immune systems are quite what our ancestors were though.

Still not something I'd advise ever sticking 'in' a wound, and certainly not a bullet hole, where traumatic tissue damage is a real issue to say nothing of metal and clothing debris.
Pad up a wound and bind it firmly is generally a good idea for first aid.

I think Wayne has the right of it. Modern dressings are excellent

Toddy....who's so pleased with the hydrocoloidal blister plasters just now.

 

[Wildgoose]

This is where the “first” in first aid gets a bit blurred.

There are times, such as a junctional wound where the wound needs to be packed to stop bleeding. Armpits, groin and buttocks being the main areas as a tourniquet cannot be applied. Quickclot, chitogauze and similar are designed for this purpose.
This is first aid, stop the bleeding.

Then there is packing a wound following surgery, where the wound has been irrigated, dead flesh cut away and damage repaired as much as possible.
This is secondary care, under the care of a medical professional.

In the OP example it seems the combo is used as first aid, to stop bleeding so as the soldier can get to the surgeon. In battle this could take several hours however.

In extreme circumstances any material can be used to stop bleeding but medical intervention is needed to stop infection.

 

[forrestdweller]

thanks for the replies!
so there's obviously some truth to this, but it seems also to depend on the type of moss used. i haven't found sphagnum moss here, yet and won't rob the web of a tropical spider for first aid as they might be a wee bit upset and a spider bite on top of a bullet wound seems not desirable (but it's good to know it might work in a dire emergency with no other option available )
and the last time i had someone shooting at me i felt the bullet whistling past my left ear -- a full hit would have required a better remedy than moss + spider's web....

 

[Toddy]

The spider's web only works on really superficial type things though. No way would I consider it, even in extremis, for a bullet wound.

Here, for the superficial thing, I'd rather find a Piptoporus betulina fungus, and strip a bit of skin from that. It kind of self seals onto a wound like a natural elastoplast

 

[forrestdweller]

wonder if that's why "otzi" carried several pieces of the fungus strung on a thong with him...
unfortunately there no birches here in the central american rainforest and apart from daldinia concentrica (or a close relative) i'm not familiar with the local fungi :-(

 

[Toddy]

It would be fascinating to find someone who is, and who is happy to wander and blether to you about the traditional uses of the plants and fungi in their area

It was good to read about the ones that Otzi carried, and think about how practical they were.

 

[billycoen]

Depending where the wound is,sticking your fist in it will put pressure on the bleed,or a finger,again depending how big the wound is,if it's an arterial bleed,and you can see the end of the artery,then pinch it to stop the bleeding,if you can't locate the artery,then use indirect pressure above the wound.

 

[forrestdweller]

Depending where the wound is,sticking your fist in it will put pressure on the bleed,or a finger,again depending how big the wound is,if it's an arterial bleed,and you can see the end of the artery,then pinch it to stop the bleeding,if you can't locate the artery,then use indirect pressure above the wound.

i wish someone had taught us this many moons ago when i (not voluntarily) ended up dressed in camouflage and carrying an assault rifle as the somewhat rudimentary first aid course was -like all first aid courses i had to attend...-- heavily focused on CPR

i hope i won't have to use it but it's definitely good to know

 

[forrestdweller]

It would be fascinating to find someone who is, and who is happy to wander and blether to you about the traditional uses of the plants and fungi in their area

i've learned about a few of the local plants but there's definitely much more and i wish i had more opportunities than my current situation allows me-- shame how much old knowledge gets lost -(

 

[Coach]

There is a common wild plant called yarrow (achillea millefolium) which is found just about everywhere in the wild. Pick a big handful of leaves and then when you get home wash them and put them on a tray and dry them slowly in a low oven
When theyre dry and crispy crumble them up into a powder and save in a clean plastic bag and apply to any bleeding cut/ wound. It will stop the bleeding almost immediately and form a crust over the wound. Works like a charm and its free.!

 

[forrestdweller]

i once used yarrow when dealing with an issue during a mountain solo trip in New Zealand (where it got introduced by european settlers), but unfortunately it doesn't exist here along the caribbean coast of Costa Rica...