This section is from the book "Facts Worth Knowing", by Robert Kemp Philip. Also available from Amazon: Inquire Within for Anything You Want to Know.
Bandages are strips of calico, linen, flannel, muslin, elastic-webbing, bunting, or some other sub-stance of various lengths, sucli as three, four, eight, ten, or twelve yards, and one, one and a-half, two, two and a-half, three, four, or 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.
2201. 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.
2202. 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.
2203. To apply a single-headed bandage, lay the outside of the end next to the part to be bandaged, and to hold the roll between the little, ring, and middle fingers, and the palm of the left hand, using the thumb and fore finger 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 rcquire a different method of applying bandages, and therefore we shall describe the most useful separately, and there are different ways of putting on the same bandage, which consists in the manner the folds or turns are made. For example, the circular bandage is formed by horizontal turns, each of which over-laps 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.
2204. Circular bandages are used for the neck, to retain dressings on any part of it, or for blisters, setons, etc.; for the head, to keep dressings on the forehead or any part contained within a circle passing round the head; for the arm, previous to bleeding; for the leg, above the knee; and for the fingers, etc.
2205. To confine the ends of bandages, some persons use pins, others slit the end for a short distance, and tie the two strips into a knot, and some use a strip of adhesive plaster. Always place the point of a pin in such a position that it should not be likely to prick the patient, or the person dressing the limb, or be likely to draw out by using the limb: therefore, as a general rule, turn the head of the pin from the free end of the bandage, or towards the upper part of the limb.
2206. The oblique bandage is generally used for arms and legs io retain dressings.
2207. The spiral bandage is generally applied to the trunk and extremities, but it is apt to fall off even when very carefully applied; therefore we generally use another called the recurrent, which folds back again.
2208. The recurrent bandage is the best kind of bandage that we can employ for general purposes. The method of putting it on is as follows:- Apply the end of the bandage that is free, with the outside of it next the skin, and hold this end with the finger and thumb of the left hand, while some one support* the heel of the patient; then with the right hand to pass the bandage over the piece you are holding, and keep it crossed thus, until you can place your right forefinger upon the spot where it crosses the other bandage, where it must be kept firm. Now hold the roll of the bandage in your left hand, with the palm looking upwards, and taking care to keep that part of the bandage between your right fore-finger, and the roll in your left hand quite slack; turn your left hand over, and bring the bandage down upon the leg; then pass the roll under the leg towards your right hand, and repeat this until the leg is bandaged up to the knee, taking care not to drag the bandage at any time during the process of bandaging. When you arrive at the knee, pass the bandage round the leg in circles just below the knee, and pin it as usual. Bandaging is very easy, and if you once see any one apply a bandage properly, and attend to these rules, there will not be any difficulty; but bear one thing in mind, without which you will never put on a bandage even decently; and that is, never to drag or pull at a bandage, but make the turns while it is slack, and you have your right forefinger placed upon the point where it is to be folded down. When a limb is properly bandaged, the folds should run in a line corresponding to the shin-bone. Use, to retain dressings, and for varicose veins.
2209. A bandage for the chest is always placed upon the patient in a sitting posture; and it may be put on in circles or spirally. Use, in fractures of the ribs, to retain dressings, and after severe contusions.
2210. A bandage for the belly is placed on the patient as directed in the last, if spirally carrying it from above down-wards. Use, to compress the belly after dropsy, or retain dressings.
2211. The hand is bandaged by crossing the bandage over the back of the hand. Use, to retain dressiugs.
2212. For the head, a bandage may be cueurlar. or spiral, or both; in the latter case, commence by placing one circular turn just over the ears; then bring down from left to right, and round the head again so as to alternate a spiral with a circular turn. Use, to retain dressings on the head or over the eye; but this form soon gets slack. The circular bandage is the best, crossing it over both eyes.
 
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