is to be used on raw surfaces. It is not so
useful for dressing wounds as gauze, since it mats down closely, does
not absorb secretions and discharges so well, and sticks to the parts.
When torn into balls as large as an egg and boiled for fifteen minutes
in water, it is useful as sponges for cleaning wounds. Sheet wadding,
or cotton, is serviceable in covering splints before they are applied
to the skin. Wet antiseptic surgical dressings are valuable in
treating wounds which are inflamed and not healing well. They are made
by soaking gauze in solutions of carbolic acid (half a teaspoonful of
the acid to one pint of hot water), and, after application, covering
the gauze with oil silk, rubber dam, or paraffin paper. Heavy brown
wrapping paper, well oiled or greased, will answer the purpose when
better material is not at hand.

=BANDAGES.=--Bandaging is an art that can only be acquired in any
degree of perfection by practical instruction and experience. Some
useful hints, however, may be given to the inexperienced. Cotton
cloth, bleached or unbleached, is commonly employed for bandages; also
gauze, which does not make so effective a dressing, but is much
easier of application, is softer and more comfortable, and is best
adapted to the use of the novice. A bandage cannot be put on properly
unless it is first rolled. A bandage for the limbs should be about two
and a half inches wide and eight yards long; for the fingers,
three-quarters of an inch wide and three yards long. The bandage may
be rolled on itself till it is as large as the finger, and then rolled
down the front of the thigh, with the palm of the right hand, while
the loose end is held taut in the left hand.

[Illustration: PLATE II.

Fig. I.

Fig. II.

Fig. III.

Fig. IV.

DIFFERENT FORMS OF BANDAGES.

(AMERICAN TEXT-BOOK AND REFERENCE HANDBOOK.)

Fig. I shows application of figure-of-eight bandage; Fig. II, a spica
bandage of thumb; Fig. III, a spica bandage of foot; Fig. IV, a
T-bandage.]

Two forms of bandages are adapted to the limbs, the figure-of-eight,
and the spiral reversed bandage. In applying a bandage always begin at
the lower extremity of the limb and approach the body. Make a few
circular turns about the limb (see Fig. I, p. 132), then as the limb
enlarges, draw the bandage up spirally, reversing it each time it
encircles the limb, as shown in Fig. I, p. 134. In reversing, hold the
bandage with the left thumb so that it will not sl