Inability to use the limb and pain first call our attention to a broken bone. Then when we examine the seat of injury we usually notice some deformity--the limb or bone is out of line, and there may be an unusual swelling. But to distinguish this condition from sprain or bruise, we must find that there is a new joint in the course of the bone where there ought not to be any; e. g., if the leg were broken midway between the knee and ankle, we should feel that there was apparently a new joint at this place, that there was increased capacity for movement in the middle of the leg, and perhaps the ends of the fragments of bones could be heard or felt grating together. These, then, are the absolute tests of a broken bone--unusual mobility (or capacity for movement) in the course of the bone, and grating of the broken fragments together. The last will not occur, of course, unless the fragments happen to lie so that they touch each other and should not be sought for. In the case of limbs, sudden shortening of the broken member from overlapping of the fragments is a sure sign. =SPECIAL FRACTURES.= =BROKEN RIB.=--_First Aid Rule.--Patient puts hands on head while attendant puts adhesive-plaster band, one foot wide, around injured side from spine over breastbone to line of armpit of sound side. Then put patient to bed._ A rib is usually broken by direct violence. The symptoms are pain on taking a deep breath, or on coughing, together with a small, very tender point. The deformity is not usually great, if, indeed, any exists, so that nothing in the external appearance may call the attention to fracture. Grating between the fragments may be heard by the patient or by the examiner, and the patient can often place his finger on the exact location of the break. When it is a matter of doubt whether a rib is broken or not the treatment for broken rib should be followed for relief of pain. [Illustration: FIG. 8. METHOD OF BANDAGING BROKEN RIB (SCUDDER). Note manner of sticking one end of wide adhesive plaster along backbone; also assistant carrying strip around injured side.]