PLASTER OF PARIS CASTS

Abstract

Wars impel us to improve our technic of applying casts. It was to enable him to use plaster of paris conveniently on the battlefield that led A. Matthysen, a medical officer in the Dutch army, to invent and describe the plaster of paris bandage in 1852. He employed a coarse cotton bandage and manually rubbed plaster of paris into it, very much as we do today. This was a great improvement over the method of mixing the plaster of paris with water and pouring it into a box enclosing an extremity, a method that had been in use for the preceding half century. In every war since the Crimean (1854-1856), plaster of paris has been extensively used; but in this present conflict there will be more plaster of paris used than in all previous wars combined. For many wounds, encasement in plaster of paris represents the best method of treatment.