ot and cold
alternately--the heat should be as hot as can be borne and left on
very hot for three minutes, then ice water compresses should be
applied for one minute, then hot again--these changes should continue
for an hour, and if carried out immediately after the injury all
discolorations and most of the swelling may be avoided. Witch-hazel
compresses are comforting. If discoloration has taken place, the
application of hot compresses will often hasten its disappearance.

FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS

While there is very little a member of the family or a non-medical
friend can do in case of a fracture, and while it is unwise to offer
suggestions relative to the setting of bones, yet it is highly
important that both the family and friends know how properly to
support a broken leg while carrying a disabled person into the house
or to near-by medical aid.

For instance, in the case of a fractured leg below the knee, if a
couple of flat boards three inches wide be tied about the leg with two
pocket handkerchiefs, the ends of the fractured bone will not rub
against each other and the pain will be much less in carrying. In
this way all danger of causing the broken bones to protrude and thus
"compounding" the fracture is also avoided. And also, if there is no
near-by ambulance, a good emergency stretcher may be improvised out of
two or three buttoned vests with two poles, rakes, or brooms run
through the armholes--one vest under the shoulders and one under the
hips and still another under the fracture. An injured person may in
this way be carried for miles quite comfortably.

Two people may fashion a seat out of their four hands on which the
disabled child may sit with his arms about the necks of his two
friends. If the fractured end of the bone penetrates the flesh it is
then known as a compound fracture and the utmost cleanliness must
prevail--as in dressing other wounds. An X ray laboratory should
always be sought, where convenient, to ascertain if the ends of the
bones are in good position.

In dislocations, the bone has slipped out of place at the joint.
Medical aid should be called to replace the bone, while hot
applications may be used in the meantime.

SPRAINS

All sprains (a twist or straining of a joint) should promptly be put
into a very hot bath and held there for thirty minutes. If this is
impossible, then a rubber tube or a handkerchief is tied snugly
between the sprain and the trunk of the body. A