GENERAL DISEASES OF THE BONES. 305 



and hard resisting case ; a plaster bandage consisting of a long 

 roll of the same kind with plaster of Paris thickly dusted 

 between its layers, and the whole dipped in water before it is 

 applied ; or pieces of sheet-iron carefully padded to prevent 

 chafing and secure perfect adaptation, and bound firmly by a 

 surface bandage ; or wooden splints may be fashioned to the 

 form of one side of the limb and applied with a sufficient in- 

 ternal padding. It is usually needful to apply one of these 

 wooden or iron splints outside the starch or gutta-percha cases, 

 in the larger animals, to give the requisite solidity. In all cases 

 the limb should be accurately wrapped in a long narrow strip 

 of cotton or linen as a protection before the application of the 

 bandage proper. The bandage should always extend to the ex- 

 tremity of the limb (hoof or claws), otherwise the uncovered 

 portion will swell, inflame, and perhaps die. It should not only 

 fix immovably all the joints below the fracture, but if possible 

 the next above as well, as by this means, as well as by the en- 

 forced immobility of the muscles, the perfect rest of the broken 

 ends is secured. 



If swelling existed before the application of the bandage, it 

 may become loose in a day or two and should be reopened and 

 more accurately applied, care being taken to secure equal pres- 

 sure from the extremity up. The starch bandage may be slit 

 open up the side, and when properly padded reapplied with the 

 one edge overlapping the other as far as necessary, and fixed 

 by a long bandage applied over all. The plaster bandage may 

 be adapted by filling up the interval between the soft skin 

 bandage and the plaster case with a thin pulpy mixture of 

 plaster of Paris and water j)0ured in at the top. 



The limb should be kept in the bandage for a month or six 

 weeks, and will require a rest of two or three months more, for 

 the consolidation of the new tissue, before being put to work. 



P'ractures in the upper parts of the limbs of quadrupeds, 

 which it is impossible to fix by bandages, may yet recover with 



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