390 NTTKSING THE SICK. 



occur toward early morning, at the period of the lowest tempera- 

 ture of the twenty -four hours, and at the time when the effect f 

 the preceding day's diet is exhausted. 



Talking Business to a Sick Person Always sit down 

 when a sick person is talking business to you, show no signs of 

 hurry and go away the moment the subject is ended. 



Always sit within the patient's view, so that when you speak 

 to him, he has not painfully to turn his head round in order to look 

 at you. If you make this act a wearisome one on the part of the 

 patient, you are doing him harm. So also if, by continuing to 

 stand, you make him continuously raise his eyes to see you. Be 

 as motionless as possible and never gesticulate in speaking to the 

 sick. 



Mere visitors should not be allowed to remain in the sick- 

 room more than five minutes, just long enough to allow a friendly 

 greeting and the expression of a hope that soon all will be well 

 again, with the communication of such intelligence as might make 

 a pleasant impression on the mind. 



Sitting on the Bed of a Patient Remember never to 

 lean against, sit upon, or even touch the bed in which a patient 

 lies. This is a painful annoyance. If you shake the chair upon 

 which he sits, he has a point by which he can steady himself, in 

 his feet. But on a bed or sofa, he is entirely at your mercy, 

 and he feels through his whole system every jar you give him. 



Conversation and Noise It is a matter of surprise that 

 the friends of patients, and even many doctors, should exhibit so 

 much thoughtlessness or lack of good sense, often resulting in 

 unintentional cruelty, as to hold a long conversation in the room 

 of the patient or in a passage adjoining it. If it is a whispered 

 conversation in the same room, then it is absolutely cruel, for it is 

 impossible that the patient's attention should not be strained to 

 hear. Walking on tip-toe, or doing anything in the room very 

 slowly, is injurious for the same reasons. A firm, light, quick 

 step, a steady, quick hand, with every act and look tempered with 

 gentleness of disposition and kindness of heart, are qualities most 

 desirable in the sick-room ; not the slow, lingering, shuffling foot, 

 the timid, uncertain touch, the boisterous word or laugh, or the 

 look of anxiety and despair. 



Variety and Change The effect, in sickness, of beautiful 

 objects, especially those of variety and brilliancy of color, is hardly 

 at all appreciated ; yet they are actual means of recovery. But 

 it should be a slow variety; for example, if you show a patient 

 ten or twelve engravings successively, ten to one that he becomes 

 cold and faint or feverish, or even sick ; but hang one up opposite 

 him, one on each successive day, or week, or month, and he will 

 revel in the variety. 



Nurses vary their own objects, their own employments, many 

 times a day ; and yet, while nursing some bed-ridden sufferer, they 



