A patient suffering from a suppurating wound becomes enfeebled from the discharge of pus, and should have his strength kept up by nourishing food. A surgeon will always endeavor to prevent the retention and decomposition of discharges, and to protect from external contamination. He will direct the time and means of dressing the wounds, but the nurse must remember that decomposed animal matter acts as a virulent poison introduced into the system as it may be through any abrasion of the skin. All instruments used about a wound must be thoroughly cleansed before being put away. Dressings which have been next the wound should be burned; those which are to be washed should be disinfected. Avoid soiling your own hands with discharges; protect with a bit of plaster every place where there is any cut, or scratch, or sore. If you fear that any virus has got in where there is any sore, or where the skin is broken, touch it with carbolic acid. FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS. One of the signs of a FRACTURE is crepitus, the sound made by the rubbing of the ends of broken bones together. This sound cannot always be obtained, even when the bone can be moved so that the ends rub each other, and as such motion causes considerable pain the nurse should not seek for it, except as she harkens when the limb is accidentally or necessarily moved. The separation and inequalities of the ends of the fracture (when the bones are superficial), the change in the form of the limb, and the shortening of it, are circumstances communicating information in very many cases, and the diagnosis is made pretty certain if there is unnatural mobility of the limb. In other cases there is loss of motion or immobility, swelling and pain in the injured part, &c., but it will possibly require the services of the skillful surgeon to detect the existence and character of a fracture; and generally the coaptation or setting of the bone, can be deferred until he arrives. The nurse can do something in the meantime—can have the patient and fractured limb put in as easy a position as possible; perhaps have something ready for bandages and splints. A splint may be made of anything that will hold the bone securely in place; it should be longer than the bone that is broken. Sole leather is sometimes used; cut the required size, softened in hot water, moulded to fit the part and left on until dry, when it will be of the desired shape. Plaster of Paris bandages are sometimes used. These are prepared by rubbing into the ordinary muslin rollers dry plaster. They are then rolled. When they are applied, soft flannel bandages are first put on the broken limb, then the one containing plaster is (after being dipped in water, and some of the water squeezed out), applied over the flannel. It takes ten or twelve hours for this to set and become hard, and the broken limb must be kept still during the time. Dust the part over with toilet powder before the bandage is applied.