These may be made of the mustard powder alone, or in combination with bread crumbs, or linseed meal. When mustard only is used, the powder should be moistened with water, and the paste thus produced spread on a piece of linen, and covered with muslin to intervene between the mustard and the skin. When mixed with linseed the powder and the meal may be incorporated before water is added, or the meal may be moistened and spread on linen for application, and the mustard be then strewn on the surface, more or less thickly according to the age of the patient. Rigollot's Mustard leaves, which 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.