Imperative surgery : for the general practitioner, the specialist and the recent graduate / by Howard Lilienthal.

  • Lilienthal, Howard, 1861-1946.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Imperative surgery : for the general practitioner, the specialist and the recent graduate / by Howard Lilienthal. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    37/440 (page 15)
    K U ; 11) DRESSINGS *5 Splints and Other Rigid Dressings.— Thin boards of some light wood well padded with cotton or gauze make useful splints. Strips of basswood veneering, which ma}- be obtained of the box-manu- facturers, or thick pasteboard torn into the proper form and mois- tened with water, may be incorporated in the dressing as the bandage is applied, and they add so much to its rigidity as to form practi- cally a splint. Crinoline (see next subject) is the bandage ma- terial best suited to this form of stiff dressing, but since it dries and hardens slowly, these splints are unsuitable for the fixation of fractures where there may be a strong tendency to recurrence of the deformity. Sheet tin in strips about half an inch wide and as long as the case demands are excellent for stiffening a dressing. The strips should be perforated by means of a pointed nail or an awl, driven through with a hammer in a series of holes about two inches apart, and then a second series should be made between the first holes, the tin being reversed so that the perforating tool shall pass through in the opposite direction. Rough elevations will thus be formed on each face of the strip, upon which the bandage will catch, holding the tin in place. Crinoline. — A convenient material to be used in the formation of rigid dressings is a kind of crinoline or stiff gauze which may be obtained from dealers in dry goods. It is known to the trade as supers, and depends for its peculiar quality upon a finishing of starch, dextrine, or a combination of both. Roller bandages of this cloth should be immersed and kneaded for a few moments in warm water, so as to thoroughly saturate them. They are then ready for use. The goods are of different decrees of stiffness. In about two hours the bandage has set, forming a light and very rigid splint. It is easily removed either by cutting it away with a knife or by soaking it for a short time in water, after which it may be unrolled. To make a particularly stiff splint of this sort, a few tin or veneering strips should be incorporated and from four to six layers of the crinoline should be applied.