Bound charges and currents are among the conceptually challenging topics in advanced courses on electricity and magnetism. It may be tempting for students to believe that they are merely computational tools for calculating electric and magnetic fields in matter, particularly because they are usually introduced through abstract manipulation of integral identities, with the physical interpretation provided a posteriori. Yet these charges and currents are no less real than free charges and currents and can be measured experimentally. A simpler and more direct approach to introducing this topic, suggested by the ideas in the classic book by Purcell and emphasizing the physical origin of these phenomena, is proposed.