96 MANUAL FOR STABLE SERGEANTS. 



solution, and a sufficient quantity of clean cotton, gauze, or oakum. 

 He should also make ready the necessary instruments, as follows: 



Instruments. Scissors, knife, forceps, probe, syringe, and a needle 

 and some thread, if required ; all to be clean and placed in a tray or a 

 basin and immersed in any good antiseptic solution, except bichloride 

 of mercury, which will corrode them. 



GENERAL TREATMENT OF WOUNDS. 



352. Stop the bleeding (hemorrhage). If bleeding is profuse 

 and from large vessels, the first step is to stop the flow of blood. 

 This may be done by grasping the bleeding vessel or vessels with 

 the forceps and tying them with a piece of silk, string, horsehair, 

 or any suitable material which may be at hand. 



If the vessel can not be tied, a thick pad made of cotton, gauze, 

 oakum, or clean cloth may be made and bandaged tightly over the 

 wound. This arrangement is called a compress and should not be 

 kept on for more than three or four hours, after which it must be 

 removed and a clean dressing with less pressure applied. 



If the wound be in a location which will not permit bandaging, 

 the bleeding may be stopped by packing it tightly ^with cotton or 

 gauze held in place by stitches in the skin drawn tightly over the 

 packing. 



Slight hemorrhages, such as follow injuries to the small vessels and 

 capillaries, may be checked by baths of cold water or by compresses 

 of cotton or oakum, either dry or soaked in a solution of tincture of 

 chloride of iron. 



353. Clean the wound and remove all foreign bodies. When 

 the bleeding has stopped, cut the hair from the edges of the wound 

 and remove all dirt, clots of blood, splinters, and foreign bodies 

 of every kind. This may be done by carefully syringing the parts 

 with clean warm water, or a warm antiseptic solution. Foreign 

 bodies may be removed with the forceps or by passing small pieces 

 of cotton soaked in an antiseptic solution gently over the surface of 

 the wound . These pieces of cotton must be thrown away after us ing 

 and not put back in the solution. The object of this is to keep the 

 solution and the rest of the material clean. Wounds that are clean 

 and dry should not be washed. 



354. Apply an antiseptic. Tincture of iodine, iodoform, boracic 

 acid, or a solution of carbolic acid, creolin, or bichloride of mercury. 



