Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/179

BAN It over his head, and ties it securely to the waist : by which simple means he cannot possibly sink. Its figure is here subjoined. BAN bss BANDAGE, in surgery, a fillet, or roller, used in dressing" and bind- ing up wounds, restraining danger- pus bleedings, and in joining frac- tured or dislocated bones. The modern and more enlight- ened surgeons have, in some of the most important operations, relin- quished the use of tight bandages, from a conviction of their tendency to do more harm than good. Thus it is certain, that die most expedi- tious cures of broken limbs, have generally been effected without any bandages ; yet, as there is a necessity of keeping the injured limb in a steady posture, Ave shall expatiate on this subject under the head of Fractures. — See also Li- gatures, and TousNiauET. BANDY-LEGS, a vernacular expression applied to distorted or crooked legs. In some cases tliis is a natural defect in the birth, though it may more frequent ibed to an improper treatment of infants, by indolent or ojfi nurses. The former will some- times suffer an infant, scar twelve months old, to stand for hours en its legs:, while confined in a chair, or an absurd machinery contrived for walking : the latter are too impatient to give early spe- cimens of a child's vigour, and . neats with its ten- der legs. sy are able to sustain the weight of the body. When an infant is born with bandy-legs, the timely and judjc;- . e of the bandage may, by im- perceptible degrees, correct this de- but it requires more patience and perseverance than people in ge- neral are able or disposed to be- stow* Hence wje cannot suppress a remark made by the ingenious I.evret, that this species of ne- is attended with more im- portant consequences to die female thau the m.-ile sex : for, as de- formities of the lower extremities aie very frequently connected with similar mal-confomiations of those which form the waist, we nonce account for the repeated abortions in many modiers who pay the strictest attention to diet, and every other circumstance, ig die period of gestation. This unfortunate deformity, how- ever, cannot be easily remedied after the child has arrived at a cer- tain age ; and we believe all at- tempts would be fruitless, and even hurtful, after the sixth or seventh year: yet there are instances on record, where Nature, unassisted by art, has occasionally performed a cure. Dr. Unzer relates the case of a young man, who was born and reared with legs so dis- ', that he was obliged to walk on die sides of his feet and h lw.it during his apprenticeship with a taylor, sitting continually with ed legs, he. remarked that his lower extremities began gradually to recover their natural dire and that his ancle* in particular spon-