376

STRAINS.

When a fracture is accompanied with a wound, it must be dress-ed in all respects as a wound.

All that art can do towards the cure of a broken bone is to layit perfectly straight, and to keep it quit« easy. AU tight bandagesdo hurt. They had much better be omitted altogether. A greatmany of the bad consequences which succeed to fractured bonesare owing to tight bandages. This is one of the ways in whichthe excess of art, or rather the abuse of it, docs more mischiefthan would be occasioned by the want of it. Some of the mostsudden cures of broken bones which were ever known happenedwhere no bandages were applied at all. Some method, however,must be taken to keep the member steady ; but this may be donemany ways, without bracing it with a tight bandage.

The best method of retention is by two or more splints made ofleather or pasteboard. These, if znoistened before they are ap-plied, soon assume the shape of the included member, and are suf-ficient, by the assistance of a very slight bandage, for all the pur-poses of retention. The bandage which we would recommend isthat made with twelve or eighteen tails. It is much easier appliedand taken off than rollers, and answers all the purposes of reten-tion equally well. The splints should always be as long as thelimb, with holes cut for the ancles when the fracture is in the leg.

In fractures of the ribs, where a bandage cannot be properlyused, an adhesive plaster may be applied over the part. The pa-rent in this case ought to be bled, to keep himself quite easy, avoid-ing every thing that may occasion sneezing, laughing, coughing, orthe like. He ought to keep his body in a straight posture, andshould take care that his stomach be constantly distended, by tak-ing frequently some light food, and drinking freely of weak wateryliquors.

When the ribs are fractured on both sides bandages are notadmissible, as the patient would be in extreme danger of beingsuffocated, from impeded action of the chest.

The most proper external application for a fracture is oxycrate,or a mixture of vinegar and water, to which some spirits of winemay be added. The bandages should be wet with this at everydressing, if the inflammation runs high.

CHAP. IV.

OF STRAINS.

Strains are often attended with worse consequences than brok-en bones. The reason is obvious : they are generally neglected.When a bone is broken, the patient is obliged to keep the membereasy, because he cannot make use of it ; but when a joint is onlystrained, the person finding he can still make a shift to move it, issorry to lose his time for so trifling an ailment. In this wayhe deceives himself, and converts into an incurable malady whatmight have been removed by only keeping the part easy for a fewdays.

Country-people generally immerse a strained limb in cold water.