ich can be procured from any
chemist, are now much used in the place of mustard poultices. They
only require wetting before application, and are both clean and
economical.

811. Bandages.

Bandages are strips of calico, linen, flannel, muslin, elastic
webbing, bunting, or some other substance, of various lengths, and
from one to six inches wide, free from hems or darns, soft and
unglazed. They are better after they have been washed. Their uses are
to retain dressings, apparatus, or parts of the body in their proper
positions, support the soft parts, and maintain equal pressure.

812. Simple and Compound Bandages.

Bandages are simple and compound; the former are simple slips rolled
up tightly like a roll of ribbon. There is also another simple kind,
which is rolled from both ends--this is called a double-headed
bandage. The compound bandages are formed of many pieces.

813. Bandages for Different Parts of the Body.

Bandages for the Head should be two inches wide and five yards long;
for the neck, two inches wide, and three yards long; for the arm, two
inches wide, and seven yards long; for the leg, two inches and a half
wide and seven yards long; for the thigh three inches wide, and eight
yards long; and for the body, four or six inches wide and ten or
twelve yards long.

814. To Apply a Single-Headed Bandage,

To apply a single-headed bandage, lay the _outside of the end_ near to
the part to be bandaged, and hold the roll between the little, ring
and middle fingers, and the palm of the left hand, using the thumb and
forefinger of the same hand to guide it, and the right hand to keep it
firm, and pass the bandage partly round the leg towards the left hand.
It is sometimes necessary to reverse this order, and therefore it is
well to be able to use both hands.

Particular parts require a different method of applying bandages, and
therefore it is necessary to describe the most useful separately; and
there are different ways of putting on the same bandage, which consist
in the manner the folds or turns are made. For example, the _circular_
bandage is formed by horizontal turns, each of which overlaps the one
made before it; the _spiral_ consists of spiral turns; the _oblique_
follows a course oblique or slanting to the centre of the limb; and
the _recurrent_ folds back again to the part whence it started.

815. Circular Bandages