Children's Crooked Legs

It is the faalt of a chill's mother to-day if either boy or girl is allowed to reach maturity with distorted limbí, says the St. Louis llepubï'c; knock knees or bowed legs are uncocessary evils. Both these deformities can be c.;red and curod perraanently. Thero are three ways in which physicians umv.rtake cases. First, by what they term "expectant" treatment; next, mechanical and, lastly, operative treatment. ïhe little boy or ffirl (and no child is received over 1-1 years of age) is placed on brown paper and the outlines of his legs are traced ; this determines how serious the defect is. If the baby is young, 8 months to 2 years, and its bones are soft, the first method is prescribed, which consists of keepingthe little one in bed and rubbing the lega Tvith firm pressure until the bones yield and take their normal position. This can be done only with those still in infancy. If the chili Is 2 to 4 years old mechanical treatment is given; the legs are either put into steel braces, which correct the misplacement in the bones by continual pressure; or.if the defect is slight, ehoes are built up on the soles to throw the legs into the right angle. After 4 years the bones usuafy are hardened, and it would tak6 a todious time to straighten them by brace, so the operative treatment is given. The legs are broken. This seems a startling statement, and sounds very cruel for the chiid, but the doctors think nothing of the operation, and parents have begun to realize how harmless it is, and do not protest so violently as at first. The child is put under ether, the body laid on the operating table, the legs strapped, and the bones broken by a chisel and mallet. A keen knif e is used to open a little slit in the skin, and the small chisel is inserted delicately in between the arteries, reaching the bone easily and quickly, for the large bone is near the skin below the knee, and when securely resting on it the chisel is hammered through. The bones are then placed in their correct position with the least trouble, a dressing put on, and the legs incased in piaster of paris. Of course both lega are operatêd on in the same manner. Scarcely any blood is shed, there is no danger, it being unnecessary that even fever should result, and in four weeks the child is sent home cured. For awhile he wears braces, but soon diüeards these, and finds himself as straight and supple as any of his comrades.