3*o 



ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES. 



cose or broken veins is to support the 

 limb by wearing elastic stockings, or a 

 carefully applied bandage. 

 BTJBNS and SCALDS.— There is no class 



of accidents that cause such an amount 

 of agony, and none which are followed 

 with more disastrous results. 



i. By putting the burned part under cold 

 water, milk, or other bland fluid, in- 

 stantaneous and perfect relief from all 

 pain will be experienced. On withdraw- 

 al, the burn should be perfectly covered 

 with half an inch or more of common 

 wheaten flour, put on with a dredging- 

 box, or in any other way, and allowed 

 to remain until a cure is effected, when 

 the dry, caked flour will fall off, or can 

 be softened with water, disclosing a beau- 

 tiful, new and healthy skin, in all cases 

 where the burns have been superficial. 

 2. Dissolve white lead in flaxseed oil to 

 the consistency of milk, and apply over 

 the entire burn or scald every five min- 

 utes. It can be applied with a soft feath- 

 er. This is said to give relief sooner, and 

 to be more permanent in its effects, than 

 any other application. 3. Make a satu- 

 rated solution of alum (four ounces to a 

 quart of hot water). Dip a cotton cloth 

 in this solution and apply immediately on 

 the burn. As soon as it becomes hot or 

 dry, replace it by another, and continue 

 doing so as often as the cloth dries, 

 which at first will be every lew minutes. 

 The pain will immediately cease, and af- 

 ter twenty-four hours of this treatment 

 the burn will be healed, especially if com- 

 menced before blisters are formed. The 

 astringent and drying qualities of the 

 alum will entirely prevent their formation. 

 4. Glycerine, five ounces ; white of egg, 

 four ounces; tincture of arnica, three 

 ounces. Mix the glycerine and white of 

 egg thoroughly in a mortar, and gradual- 

 ly add the arnica. Apply freely on linen 

 rags night and morning, washing pre- 

 viously with warm castile soap-suds. 5. 

 Take one drachm of finely powdered 

 alum, and mix thorougly with the white 

 of two eggs and one teacup of fresh lard; 

 spread on a cloth, and apply to the 

 parts burnt. It gives almost instant re- 

 lief from pain, and, by excluding the air, 

 prevents excessive inflammatory action. 

 The application should be changed at 

 least once a day. 6. M. Joel, of the 

 Children's Hospital, Lausanne, finds that 



a tepid bath, containing a couple ot 

 pinches of sulphate of iron, gives imme- 

 diate relief to young children who have 

 been extensively burned. In a case of a 

 child four years old, a bath repeated 

 twice a day — twenty minutes each bath — 

 the suppuration decreased, lost its odor,, 

 and the little sufferer was soon convales- 

 cent. 7. For severe scalding, carbolic 

 acid has recently been used with marked 

 benefit. It is to be mixed with thirty 

 parts of the ordinary oil of lime water to 

 one part of the acid. Linen rags satu- 

 rated in the carbolic emulsion are to be 

 spread on the scalded parts, and kept 

 moist by frequently smearing with a 

 feather dipped in the liquid. Two ad- 

 vantages of this mode of treatment are, 

 the exclusion of air, and the rapid heal- 

 ing by a natural restorative action with- 

 out the formation of pus, thus preserving 

 unmarred the personal appearance of the 

 patient — a matter of no small importance 

 to some people. 



CHOKING. — In case of choking, a vi- 

 olent slap with the open hand between 

 the shoulders of the sufferer will often 

 effect a dislodgment. In case the accident 

 occurs with a child, and the slapping 

 process does not afford instant relief, it 

 should be grasped by the feet, and placed 

 head downwards, and the slapping be- 

 tween the shoulders renewed; but in case 

 this induces violent suffocative paroxysms 

 it must not be repeated. If the substance, 

 whatever it may be, has entered the 

 wind-pipe, and the coughing and invert- 

 ing the body fails to dislodge it, it is prob- 

 able that nothing but cutting open the 

 wind-pipe will be of any avail ; and for 

 this the services of a surgeon should al- 

 ways be procured. If food has stuck in 

 the throat or gullet, the forefinger should 

 be immediately introduced ; and if lodged 

 at the entrance of the gullet, the sub- 

 stance may be reached and extracted, 

 possibly, with the forefinger alone, or 

 may be seized with a pair of pincers, if at 

 hand, or a curling tongs, or anything of 

 the kind. This procedure may be facili- 

 tated by directing the person to put the 

 tongue well out, in which position it may 

 be retained by the individual himself, or 

 a bystander by grasping it, covered with 

 a handkerchief or towel. Should this 

 fail, an effort should be made to excite 

 retching or vomiting by passing the fin- 



