386 NURSING THE SICK. 



great care on the part of the nurse, that the food be prepared suit- 

 ably, and given at proper time. The physician should direct how 

 frequently it should be taken. 



Bed-linen, as well as that of the body, should be aired every 

 day, and oftener changed in sickness than in health. All clothing, 

 wlien changed, should be well dried and warmed by a fire previous 

 to its being put on the patient or the bed. 



Darkening the Sick-room It is a common error to im- 

 agine that a sick-room should always be either partially or wholly 

 darkened. In some diseases, as for example fevers, when the eyes 

 are acutely sensitive to light so that they remain half -closed, and 

 the eyebrows are contracted, the greatest relief is experienced from 

 darkening the room. When delirium is present, a certain degree of 

 darkening is, in some instances serviceable; while in others, espec- 

 ially when the delirium is accompanied with visual illusions, noth- 

 ing so readily dispels these, and consequently abates the delirium, 

 as the admission of the full daylight into the sick-room. There 

 is much difficulty, however, in determining which state of the 

 apartment is likely to be most serviceable in any particular case. 

 Observation of the effects of light and darkness in the individual 

 case must be our guide. 



Beds There is probably more injury done to the sick and 

 more -lives lost through the ignorance of the nurse in regard to the 

 bed and bedding than in any other thing. To say the least, the 

 condition of many beds is an outrage to the suffering patient. The 

 careful nurse is very particular about airing the sheets everyday, 

 but too little attention is generally paid to the equal necessity for 

 airing the mattress. A mattress will soon become saturated with 

 the unhealthy, poisonous emanations from the patient's body; from 

 this arises a dampness, either cold or warm, as the case may be, 

 which returns upon the patient, to be inhaled and absorbed into the 

 system, and this unhealthy process, in case of this neglect, is kept 

 up during the whole course of his sickness. 



A patient should not be allowed to lie on the same mattress 

 more than forty-eight hours at a time; twenty -four hours is better. 

 It should then be exchanged for a well-aired one, and subjected 

 to a thorough airing and sunning; by no means let it be slipped 

 underneath another on the same bed, as is sometimes done. 



The frequent changing and airing of the mattress is of vastly 

 greater importance than the same necessity with the sheets, for the 

 reason that it will catch and contain vastly more poisonous efflu- 

 via than sheets will, and will give it off again, to the great injury 

 of the patient. The exhalations from the patient's body are constantly 

 passing off by perspiration, and gradually and constantly passing 

 into his bed. 



It may be worth while to remark, that where there is any dan- 

 ger of bed-sores, a blanket should never be placed under the patient, 

 ft remains damp and acts like a poultice. 



