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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



crowded factory, or in the coal mine — which does 

 not admit of efficient first treatment. 



The fourth stage is more technical, and so less 

 interesting ; it consists in instruction regarding a large 

 numberof miscellaneous matters, such as the treatment 

 of the poisoned, of the intoxicated, and of the 

 apparently drowned ; of burns and scalds, and fits, 

 and the bites of infuriated animals, and of the 

 quickest way to extinguish flames, and what to do 

 with lime in the eye or vegetable matters in the ear. 



The last stage resolves itself into two portions, the 

 elements of nursing in the case of female, and the 

 removal of the injured in that of male classes. Here 

 also the instructor deals with simple appliances. He 

 cautions his listeners against • haste ; urges them 

 always to be calm, thoughtful and self-reliant, but 

 not slow, shows them how to make stretchers of 

 blankets, great-coats, and sheets, and how to attach 

 to them poles of the rudest and roughest character, so 

 that an injured person can be safely treated either in 

 the house or in the field until the arrival of the 

 medical attendant. 



A recapitulatory lecture should never be omitted, 

 and some practice should be given in answering 

 papers, and then the pupils should submit to an 

 examination conducted by an examiner deputed by 

 the Parent Association, and in due time the successful 

 candidates receive a certificate, the form and style of 

 which are handsome and artistic. 



The advantages of ambulance work are not 

 exhausted. The lecturers themselves learn a great 

 deal, and are taught to discard in their own practice 

 cumbrous and expensive surgical appliances, and to 

 use the simplest things and to utilise those common 

 appliances, which, while always at hand, are often 

 more comfortable and satisfactory than the complicated 

 and costly contrivances on which the fancy of surgical 

 instrument makers runs riot. 



The St. John Ambulance Association has its head 

 quarters in the ancient and picturesque gateway of 

 the famous and once magnificent priory of Clerk en well, 

 formerly the chief house in England of the order of 

 St. John of Jerusalem, in those far distant days when 

 the Prior was Premier Baron of the realm. The 

 courteous and able Chief Secretary, Sir Herbert 

 Perrott, is assisted by a large and efficient staff, 

 who contrive to get through a vast amount of work, 

 and to do much good at little money cost. The 

 medical profession, on the whole, has nobly seconded 

 the efforts of the Association, thus acting in the 

 spirit of Emin Pasha, who has beautifully said, "May 

 I give you a word of warning ? Keep yourself well 

 in hand, and do not follow without very just cause 

 the too modern development of medicine. A sick 

 man is no subject, but a feeling and suffering being, 

 whose sensibility is greatly heightened. Be to your 

 patients, in the first place, friend, then doctor. Our 

 mission is a high and holy one, and the murmured 

 thanks of a poor man are of far higher value than a 



few guineas, and the knowledge that one has saved a 

 sick child for its mother is a far more beautiful reward 

 than can ever follow a brilliant but risky operation, 

 or the humbug of the so-called scientific medicine. 

 Do not laugh at my words. I have grown old and 

 grey in the battle of life, but it is just this idealism 

 which has helped me over many a bitter hour. My 

 strife and work draw near to their close." The 

 crowning privilege of the doctor is to think more of 

 others than of himself, to sacrifice himself, to wear 

 himself out in carrying assistance to many who hardly 

 trouble to thank him, hardly seem to realise that 

 they have received anything of value at his hands. 

 And when his Christmas bills pour in upon him and 

 find him, as they do me, with an empty exchequer, 

 he often has to ask : Is not the labourer worthy of 

 his hire ? Few ambulance pupils show the smallest 

 gratitude for the loving instruction which they 

 receive, often, nay nearly always gratuitously, from 

 busy and preoccupied teachers — instruction which, 

 remembered and acted upon, does not avert accidents, 

 but infallibly makes their effects less awful, and in 

 many cases prevents an injury being aggravated, so 

 that recovery is completed in a few weeks instead of 

 extending over months, and as far as that 

 economy of time and diminution of suffering are 

 effected very seriously curtailing the receipts of the 

 medical attendant. But what indescribable satisfac- 

 tion there is in saving life, in giving assistance 

 promptly and effectively just at the right time, in 

 stemming the life current, in restoring brightness to 

 the eye, and preserving vigour of limb ! Those only 

 can enter into this joy who have been privileged to 

 render such help. 



After all, only the fringe of the subject has been 

 touched ; millions of people have not had the benefit 

 of such training, while every one should have it. Every 

 great public school should arrange for a course of 

 ambulance lectures, more particularly in these days 

 when athletic sports are part of the school training, 

 and the masters are expected to be proficient in them 

 and to devote time to them. Policemen, soldiers, 

 railway porters and ministers of religion, to say 

 nothing of schoolmistresses, nurses, and employers 

 of labour, should know what to do while the doctor 

 is coming. Wisely has the St. John Ambulance 

 Association adopted the motto of the old Catholic 

 order, for never surely was work more conspicuously 

 undertaken — 



Pro gloria Dei : pro utilitate hominum. 

 Wimborne. 



WEEDS. 



A WEED may perhaps be defined as an uncultivated 

 plant growing on cultivated ground. A more 

 restricted definition, as "a plant injurious to Agri- 

 culture," would hardly apply to all weeds, or even 



