The best and most useful bandage for a simple fracture of the
leg or thigh, is what is commonly known by the name of the
eighteen-tailed bandage,k or rather one made on the same prin-
ciple, but with a little difference in the disposition of the pieces.
The common method is to make it so, that the parts which are to
surround the limb, make a right angle with that which runs
lengthways under it; instead of which, if they are tacked on so as
to make an acute angle, they will fold over each other in an oblique
direction, and thereby sit more neatly and more securely, as the
parts will thereby have more connexion with and more depen-
dence on each other. In compound fractures, as they are called,
every body sees and acknowledges the utility of this kind of
bandage preferable to the roller, and for very obvious and con-
vincing reasons, but particularly because it does not become ne-
cessary to lift up and disturb the limb every time it is dressed, or
every time the bandage loosens.