usually draw the bone down into its socket within ten or
fifteen minutes.

[Illustration: FIG. 34.

REDUCING DISLOCATION OF HIP (REFERENCE HANDBOOK).

Patient lying on table; uninjured leg held by assistant; leg of
dislocated side at right angles; note weight at bend of knee.]

Or the patient may assume the position shown in the accompanying cut,
lying prone upon a table with the uninjured leg held horizontally by
one person, while another, with the injured thigh held vertically and
leg at right angles, grasps the patient's ankle and moves it gently
from side to side after placing a five-to ten-pound sand bag, or
similar weight of other substance, at the flexure of the knee. When
the dislocation has been overcome the patient should stay in bed for a
week or two and then go about gradually on crutches for two weeks
longer.

=SURGICAL DRESSINGS.=--Sterilized gauze is the chief surgical dressing
of the present day. This material is simply cheese cloth, from which
grease and dirt have been removed by boiling in some alkaline
preparation, usually washing soda, and rinsing in pure water. The
gauze is sterilized by subjecting it to moist or dry heat. Sterilized
gauze may be bought at shops dealing in surgeons' supplies and
instruments, and at most drug stores. Gauze or cheese cloth may be
sterilized (to destroy germs) by baking in a slow oven, in tin boxes,
or wrapped in cotton cloth, until it begins to turn brown. It is well
to have a small piece of the gauze in a separate package, which may be
inspected from time to time in order to see how the baking is
progressing, as the material to be employed for surgical purposes
should not be opened until just before it is to be used, any remainder
being immediately covered again. Cut the gauze into pieces as large as
the hand, before it is sterilized, to avoid cutting and handling
afterwards. Gauze may also be sterilized by steaming in an Arnold
sterilizer, such as is used for milk, or by boiling, if it is to be
applied wet. Carbolized, borated, and corrosive-sublimate gauze have
little special value.

[Illustration: PLATE I.

Fig. I.

Fig. II.

Fig. III.

Fig. IV.

APPLYING A ROLLER BANDAGE (REFERENCE HANDBOOK).

Fig. I shows method of starting a spiral bandage; Fig. II, ready to
reverse; Fig. III, the reverse completed; Fig. IV shows spica bandage
applied to groin.]

Absorbent cotton is also employed as a surgical dressing, and should
also be sterilized if it