Note splint extending from wrist to tip of finger; also manner of applying adhesive plaster strips and pad in palm.] If the finger corresponding to the broken bone in the back of the hand be pulled on forcibly, and the fragments be held between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand of the operator, pain and abnormal motion may be detected, and the ends of the broken bone pressed into place. A thin wooden splint, as a piece of cigar box, about an inch wide at base and tapering to the width of the finger should be applied to the palm of the hand extending from the wrist to a little beyond the finger tip, secured by strips of adhesive plaster, as in the cut, and covered by a bandage. The splint should be well padded, and an additional pad should be placed in the palm of the hand over the point of fracture. Three weeks are required for firm union, and the hand should not be used for a month. It is usually easy to recognize a broken bone in a finger, unless the break is near a joint, when it may be mistaken for a dislocation. Pain, abnormal motion, and grating between the fragments are observed. If there is deformity, it may be corrected by pulling on the injured finger with one hand, while with the other the fragments are pressed into line. A narrow, padded wooden or tin splint is applied, as in the cut (p. 102), reaching from the middle of the palm to the finger tip. Any existing displacement of the broken bone can be relieved by using pressure with little pads of cotton held in place by narrow strips of adhesive plaster where it is needed to keep the bone in line. The splint may be removed in two weeks and a strip of adhesive plaster wound about the finger to support it for a week or two more. In fracture of the thumb, the splint is applied along the back instead of on the palm side. =HIP FRACTURE.= _First Aid Rule.--Put patient flat on back in bed, with limb wedged between pillows till surgeon arrives._ [Illustration: FIG. 24. TREATING A BROKEN HIP (SCUDDER). Note the manner of straightening leg and getting broken bone into line; also assistant carefully steadying the thigh.] A fracture of the hip is really a break of that portion of the thigh bone which enters into the socket of the pelvic bone and forms the hip joint. It occurs most commonly in aged people as a result of so slight an accident as tripping on a rug, or in falling on the floor from the standing position, making a misstep, or while attempting to avoid a fall. When the accident has occurred the patient is unable to rise or walk, and suffers pain in the hip joint. When he has been helped to bed it will be seen that the foot of the injured side is turned out, and the leg is perhaps apparently shorter than its fellow. There is pain on movement of the limb, and the patient cannot raise his heel, on the injured side, from the bed. Shortening is an important sign.