Fig. 5. Applying the splints on the seventh day. After Scultetus. First the two bandages have been put on, then the waxed pads, the bandaging to fix which can be seen under the splints.
Fig. 6. Splint for leg-fracture described by Hippocrates. Made of elastic rods fitting into loops on shackle-like pads above the ankle and below the knee. After Littré.
Palladius says that they should be made of the wood of the lime tree, or, where this could not be procured, reeds were to be used. They were to be round, and secured with three loose fillets or ribands, one at their upper, and one at their lower end, and one at the middle.
Paulus Ægineta says that they should be arranged not more than one finger’s breadth from each other.
Special Splints. A special form of splints for fractures where the deformity could not be kept reduced by ordinary methods is described by Hippocrates.
“One should sew two round pads of Egyptian leather, such as are worn by persons confined for long in shackles, and the pads should be deeper on their aspect facing the wound, and shallower on that facing the joint, and they should be well stuffed and soft and easy fitting, the one to the part above the ankle, and the other to the part below the knee.
“Each pad should have two loops on its inner aspect and two on its outer. ([Fig. 6.])