316 
MEDICAL I’KACTICES AND SlII’EKSTITIONS OF KOBDOFAN 
Native 
splints 
ilesh like limpits. (lupping is a universal jirocedure for the cure and prevention of almost 
all ills, in much the same manner as was the vogue in England during the last century, 
and possibly borrowed by the west from that “ most perfect physician,” the Arab. 
Favourite sites are the back of the neck, the thorax, and front of the abdomen, and any 
locality of 2 i>ain. It seems almost essential to let blood before the commencement of the 
Khdi-if (i-Ainy season), as, indeed, at all times on the slightest provocation. The scars, which 
are rudely dressed and leave lasting marks, can be detected in number on any Arab’s body. 
20. Injectiiin horns. The perforated horns of sheep and cattle are used, I believe, for 
the administration of rectal and urethral injections. 1 have so far been unable to obtain 
examples of these, but imagine they are much the same as, if not identical with, the 
niihij<nii or cu^iping horn. 
21. Tdbiit — native splints—consist of varying narrow lengths and sizes of split cane or 
other light wood, each piece being notched at either extremity for the attachment of 
tieiug strings (12 inches to 18 inches long). These splints are arranged and used in sets of four, 
distributed at equal intervals around the circumference of the broken limb, over the site 
of fracture ; rough padding of cloth or wood tiln-e intervenes between the skin and the 
splints, which are secured in position by means of the tieing strings and a couple of lengths 
of bandaging cloth lirmly fastened over all. 
Such splints serve in some degree to steady the fractured bone and in consequence to 
lessen jiain ; for the same reason adjacent joints may be included and thus immobilised. 
Eeed-grass, tree-bark, and fine twigs are also used to encase broken limbs. 
Splints are usually worn for a period of from two to six weeks, and during this time 
seldom re-adjusted; considerable deformity and fixation commonly result, especially in 
fractures of the lower extremities. 
N.B. — My attention has since been drawn by Mr. Henry S. Wellcome to an article, 
“ The most ancient sjilints,” by Dr. G. Elliot Smith, M.A., F.E.S. {British Medical 
Journal, March 29th, 1908), in which the author describes two sets of splints found, still 
in situ, on mummies of the fifth dynasty (roughly 5,000 years ago) at Naga-Ed-Der (100 
miles from Luxor). There is a most striking similarity in the construction of the ancient 
Egyptian and these modern Sudanese splints and in their mode of application, as may be 
Fig. 94. — Native Sudanese splints applied to forearm 
gathered from the following extract; — The broken limb is set with four splints . 
Each consisted of a rough, slender strip of wood, which had been wrapped up by means 
of a carefully-applied linen bandage before being fixed to the limb. The splints were held 
