highest degree astonishing to see how
perfectly the joint is supported, with the effect that the use of
the injured limb may be immediately resumed. The writer recalls
having seen a young lady with a frightful sprain, who could not
bear to touch her foot to the floor, improve to such an extent
under the treatment as outlined that she was able to go to a ball
and dance through the evening on the day the injury occurred.

Not only does the immediate resuming of the use of an injured limb, when
treated in this way, appear not to be injurious, but the ultimate
recovery seems actually hastened. After a day or so it is well to remove
the plaster splint first applied and put on another, as the former has by
this time usually ceased to fit the injured joint--owing to the
diminution in the swelling. The splint may be changed three, four, or
even five times, if deemed necessary, though two or three applications
generally amply suffice. _This or some other splint should be kept on the
injured joint for at least a month or six weeks, as otherwise complete
recovery frequently fails to occur, with the permanent weakening of the
joint as a consequence._

Of course it is always desirable to have a physician apply the splints
for a sprain where this is feasible, but with a little care it may be
done by any intelligent person who will observe closely the directions
given. The plaster should be put on moderately tight, but the utmost care
must be exercised in not carrying this to an extreme, as in such cases
serious results might ensue. In order that it may be determined as to
whether or not the splint is too tight, it is advisable to watch the
patient's toes for some hours after the plaster is put on, and should
they be found to be very cold, and particularly should they begin to show
a dusky discoloration, it is evidence that the strips are exerting too
much pressure, and they should be at once removed. Under such
circumstances, in a half an hour or so, the splint could be reapplied
with safety.

The mole-skin plaster, which is used in making the splint just referred
to, may be obtained in rolls of any width from all druggists; and as the
plaster keeps practically indefinitely, it should be in the
medicine-closet of everyone living at a distance from skilled medical
aid.

After a sprained ankle the patient should wear shoes that come well up
above the injured joint, and they should be laced tightly unti