As the linen shirts could be boiled and scrubbed clean they were a wiser thing to wear than wool if there was likely to be some injury - the shirt was likely to clean the blade before it cut the skin, and it could be used to bandage or hold together, or even as a tourniquet.
Although these days bandages are removed and renewed, in times past a piece of boiled linen might be placed over a wound and bound there until it was set in place. It then remained in place until the process of healing was almost complete. The nurse would be able to tell by the smell whether the wound was going bad underneath and would soak it in several changes of hot salt water to remove it and clean the wound - if possible.
Anne the Pleater :ootd:
I presume to dictate to no man what he shall eat or drink or wherewithal he shall be clothed."
-- The Hon. Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, The Kilt & How to Wear It, 1901.
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