BURNS. 137 



When the wound is not a clean cut, and there is any foreign substance, 

 such as dirt, hair, etc., it must be carefully removed by sponging with cold 

 water. 



BURNS. 



Accidents caused by burning demand immediate attention, and can only 

 be cured in one way by excluding the air from the part affected. Where 

 it is a case of the clothes having caught fire, envelop the child in the 

 heavest article available, such as a blanket, tablecloth, curtain, etc., and 

 roll it over and over on the ground until the flames are extinguished, in 

 the event of there not being sufficient water at hand for that purpose. 



This done, the charred garments should be quickly but most gently re- 

 moved, and cut away, instead of being torn from the body, in order that 

 the damaged skin should not be unnecessarily irritated ; but where a piece 

 of the underlinen happens to be burnt into the wound, or is not easily 

 detached, cut away all around it, and leave it to come away afterward. 

 Then immediately cover the injured surface with something that will 

 exclude the air, either with flour sprinkled thickly over the wound, with 

 cotton-wool steeped in oil, or with a piece of linen on which is spread a 

 layer of soap about the sixteenth of an inch thick. When procurable, a 

 better remedy than either of those mentioned, is to apply strips of lint 

 saturated in carron oil, which dressing should be left on as long as possi- 

 ble, until they become loosened or objectionable from the discharges, it 



ig most desirable that these bandages be changed as seldom as po 

 Ilk-, as their removal is apt to cause detachment of portions of the new 

 skin, which is most painful and undesirable. When there is much discharp' 

 it must be removed, and the place kept as clean as possible. 



When the injury is of an extensive character, and a shock endues, the 

 shivering is best checked by the application of hot bottles to the hands 

 and feet, and the administering of hot drinks either warm sherry or warm 

 brandy and water. To prevent disfigurement from accidents of this nature. 

 the child must be carefully watchod until the partis completely healed, 

 and must be prevented from sitting or lying in anything but a 

 'ire, to avoid contraction of the skin. 



'I'lf da n;_r-r attending burns depends more upon their superficial r 

 than tin- depth of the injury those to the body, head or neck bring muck 

 more dangerous than those to tin- hands or feet, the neck being the n. 

 risky portion of all. 



When- the part is Dimply blUtnvd. though the-e b. .\e in charac- 



tar and large in number, it is comp v of little moment -.^ ;he\, 



