_Simple wooden splints_ of plain deal board or yellow pine, sawn to the appropriate length and width; or _Gooch's splinting_, which consists of long strips of soft wood, glued to a backing of wash-leather, are the most useful materials. Gooch's splinting has the advantage that when applied with the leather side next the limb it encircles the part as a ferrule; while it remains rigid when the wooden side is turned towards the skin. Perforated sheet lead or tin, stiff wire netting, and hoop iron also form useful splints. When it is desirable that the splint should take the shape of the part accurately, a plastic material may be employed. Perhaps the most convenient is _poroplastic felt_, which consists of strong felt saturated with resin. When heated before a fire or placed in boiling water, it becomes quite plastic and may be accurately moulded to any part, and on cooling it again becomes rigid. The splint should be cut from a carefully fitted paper pattern. Millboard, leather, or gutta-percha softened in hot water, and moulded to the part, may also be employed. In conditions where treatment by massage and movement is impracticable, and where movable splints are inconvenient, splints of _plaster of Paris_, _starch_, or _water-glass_ are sometimes used, especially in the treatment of fractures of the leg. When employed in the form of an immovable case, they are open to certain objections--for example, if applied immediately after the accident they are apt to become too tight if swelling occurs; and if applied while swelling is still present, they become slack when this subsides, so that displacement is liable to occur. When it is desired to enclose the limb in a plaster case, coarse muslin bandages, 3 yards long, and charged with the finest quality of thoroughly dried plaster of Paris, are employed. The "acetic plaster bandages" sold in the shops set most quickly and firmly. Boracic lint or a loose stocking is applied next the skin, and the bony prominences are specially padded. The plaster bandage is then placed in cold water till air-bubbles cease to escape, by which time it is thoroughly saturated, and, after the excess of water is squeezed out, is applied in the usual way from below upward. From two to four plies of the bandage are required. In the course of half an hour the plaster should be thoroughly set. To facilitate the removal of a plaster case the limb should be immersed for a short time in tepid water. A convenient and efficient splint is made by moulding two pieces of poroplastic felt to the sides of the limb, and fixing them in position with an elastic webbing bandage; this apparatus can be easily removed for the daily massage.