The fracture should be examined from time to time, and at the end of three weeks some of the joints previously confined in the splint may be released by cutting off the part covering them; but if the part is a dependent one, such as the leg, it should be supported by a bandage after the splint has been removed. The limb may also be washed with soap and water, and then anointed with simple ointment, if the skin be roughened or irritated by long confinement. In six weeks the starch splint may usually be discarded, and a roller alone worn for a few weeks longer. =Plaster of Paris Bandage.= _Apparatus._—1. Freshly burned white plaster of Paris. If the plaster have become stale by keeping in improperly closed vessels, and it be impossible to obtain fresh plaster, the water the plaster has absorbed from the atmosphere can be driven off by heating the powder in a dry oven to about 200° F. to 260° F., but not higher, as greater heat destroys the power of “setting.” 2. Rollers, about 2¼ inches wide, of muslin with a coarse open texture. 3. A roller of Welsh flannel 3 inches wide and 6 yards long. 4. Basin of cold water, sponge, and a kitchen spoon. 5. Soft lard or spermaceti ointment. Step 1. The muslin rollers are prepared by being loaded with dry powder just before they are used. To do this the roller should be gradually unrolled on a table while one person rubs in the powder, and a second rolls the loaded bandage up again. When three or four are loaded they should be plunged for a minute into cold water, and then are ready for use. While this is being done the limb should be thoroughly washed and dried, supported, if the fracture be recent, by sand-bags. [Illustration: Fig. 57.—Plaster of Paris Bandage, for simple fracture of the tibia, and common bed cradle.]