57. To the bandage which we have just described, Desault added formerly a strip of linen, to be placed all along the posterior part of the arm, secured first at its upper end by circular casts, which began above; this strip was secured afterwards by oblique casts, as far as to the place where it met the olecranon, separated from the ulna. Here, the surgeon quitting the roller, took hold of the bit of linen, and drew it downwards, and along with it the circular casts of the roller, together with the muscles on which these casts were applied, and also the fragment which the muscles drew upwards. An assistant then secured it here, while the surgeon, after having made some casts in form of the figure of 8, descended to the inferior part of the fore-arm, where the end of the strip was made fast by tight circular turns. (See fracture of the rotula.)
58. The intention of this additional piece of apparatus, was to draw down the superior fragment, to prevent the circular casts of the roller from separating by their relaxation, and, by that means, to retain the fragments in apposition. But, on the one hand, may not the superior fragment be drawn by the hand, as well as by a roller employed for the purpose? And, on the other, if the circular casts of the roller be liable to become relaxed, why not the strip of linen also? These considerations induced Desault to lay it aside, and use the bandage in the form just described.
59. The advantages it offers are far from being equivocal. 1st, The limb is kept in a state of invariable extension by the anterior splint, and, on this account, there can be no displacement on the part of the inferior fragment. 2dly, The bandage, which accurately envelopes the whole limb, restrains the action of the muscles by compressing them, and prevents in part the contractions of the triceps; while the casts in the form of the figure of 8, applied with skill and precision, hold down the superior fragment, and render it difficult for it to be displaced. 3dly, Without the application of a roller over the whole limb, a swelling, more or less considerable, would probably be the effect of the constriction at the elbow, which must necessarily be somewhat tight, because, as the turns of the roller, in form of the figure of 8, act on the olecranon obliquely, if they be too loose, they will slip and not perform the office of retention.