HOME HELPS. 833 



been carried to a house after respiration has been restored, 

 be careful to let the air play freely within the room. On 

 the restoration of life, a teaspoonful of warm water should 

 be given ; and then, if the power of swallowing has 

 returned, sma 1 quantities of wine, brandy-and- water, or 

 coffee, should be administered. The patient should be 

 kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged. 



EXPOSURE AND STARVATION. The time during which a 

 human being can exist without food depends upon his 

 mode of life, his temperament, and his bodily condition. 

 Well authenticated cases have come to notice of persons 

 being in the bush without food for ten or twelve days, and 

 still 6 live. In these cases the mind has been affected before 

 the person had disappeared, and the body did not crave 

 that regular solid nutriment demanded by a healthy 

 organization. In such cases it is almost certain also that 

 the sufferers had obtained water, with the aid of which 

 human nature holds out much longer. In ordinary cases 

 the bodily powers are exhausted in four days ; delirium 

 sets in and completes the destruction. With water, a cool, 

 collected man has held out for seven days and nights, and 

 still retained his faculties. Children have been known to 

 live five days without food. It is curious that children 

 discover food material in the native plants and grasses 

 much more readily than adults. The chapter on 

 "Attractions of Plant Life" is well worthy of study. in 

 this connection. Even a slight acquaintance with f .he 

 indigenous vegetation discloses many sources for the 

 support of life. On reaching a person exhausted 

 by hunger, great caution is necessary. Milk is the 

 best of all nourishment in such cases ; next to it is 

 bread and water, reduced to the consistency of milk. 

 Whatever is given must be in small quantities the eager- 

 ness of the starving person to have nourishment must be 

 restrained. Stimulants are worse than dangerous, and 

 should on no account be given to a person exhausted by 

 hunger. Put warm clotl ing around the sufferer, lay him 

 in bed, if possible, but not so near a fire as to get direct 

 heat, and so gently nurse the nearly exhausted spark of life 

 into fresh visrour. 



