156 PHYSIOLOGY AND TEMPERANCE. 



leg, it is always safer to tie both legs together, securing them 

 at the knee and ankle and carry the patient home on a door, 

 shutter, or other improvised stretcher. 



15. Dislocations. When a bone is thrown out of the 

 joint, there is always a good deal of pain. The part will have 

 a deformed look, and the limb will be helpless and fixed. 



Apply cold-water cloths, to relieve the pain and prevent 

 swelling, until the doctor comes. If the person must be 

 moved, carry him on a stretcher. 



16. Sprains. A sprain is a wrench of the joint, tearing 

 some of the ligaments and tendons which bind it. The joints 

 least liable to dislocation are most liable to sprain. Those 

 most commonly sprained are the ankle, wrist and knee. 



Apply ice-cold water at once and continuously, for two or 

 three days, keeping the joint well elevated. If not attended 

 to in this way at once, and considerable swelling has occurred, 

 then hot fomentations are better than the cold. It is also a 

 good plan to put on a roller bandage, evenly and firmly, and 

 keep it well soaked with water. 



17. Insensible Conditions. Insensibility is brought 

 about by some interference with the proper action of the 

 heart, or by some disturbance to the natural condition of the 

 brain. If from any cause the heart's action becomes suddenly 

 weak, and does not send a proper supply of blood to the 

 brain, the patient is pale, and may become gradually uncon- 

 scious. On the other hand, too much blood to the brain 

 causes a delirium, which may pass into insensibility. An 

 injury to the brain may cause insensibility; so also poison- 

 ing. Opium may put the brain to sleep. Alcohol may deaden 

 the brain centres. Anything which stops the breathing also 

 checks the heart, and soon produces insensibility. 



The most common forms of insensibility met with are : fits, 

 concussion and compression of the brain, sun-stroke, intoxica- 

 tion, drowping, suffocation by gas, strangling, poisoning, etc. 



