THE LOCOMOTOR SYSTEM. 



249 



.kept from slipping over the tail by means of another slip 

 passed round the neck and along the back. (' Canine 

 Pathology.') The same method is applicable in fractures 

 of the shoulder. In fracture of the femur, Peuch straps 

 the thigh up against the belly, and keeps the rest of the 

 limb stiff with a bandage ; he also insists on the necessity 

 of bringing all splints to the end of the limb to prevent 

 gangrene. Mayhew describes and illustrates his method 

 of setting and retaining fractured legs. He brings the 

 divided ends of the bones together and retains them as 

 follows. Three broad straight ribbons are cut from a 

 stout sheet of gutta percha and are soaked in warm water 



Fig. 80. — Method of setting fractured legs (Mayhew). 



until they are pliable,, several holes, resembling button- 

 holes, having been cut in them first by the aid of a punch 

 and a narrow chisel. " When they have lain in water a 

 sufficient time to soften, and no more, for the water of too 

 great a heat shrivels up as well as softens the gutta percha, 

 he draws forth one ribbon, and this he moulds to the front 

 of the sound leg. That done, he takes another piece of 

 the putta percha, and this he models to the hind part of 

 the sound leg. The remaining slip is fixed to the side of 

 the limb. After the pliable gutta percha has been forced 

 to assume the shape desired, it is covered with a cloth 

 saturated in cold spring water which hastens the setting 

 of the material, and thus shortens a process which renders 



