COMMON ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES 351 



denly, and usually becomes unconscious. His blood tem- 

 perature may, in severe cases, rise to 112, or even higher, 

 and death is likely to follow soon unless prompt relief is 

 given. The immediate cause of the alarming condition is 

 the effect of heat upon the nerve centers at the base of 

 the brain, which control respiration and the circulation. 

 Death is due to the paralysis of those centers. 



Treatment consists in lowering the temperature of the 

 body as rapidly as possible, by the use of ice and very 

 cold water. No time must be lost in applying these to 

 the whole body, by means of wet sheets, by sprinkling 

 with the coldest water at hand, or by rubbing with ice. 



Special sensitiveness to heat often remains long after 

 recovery from sunstroke. 



506. Choking. Small bodies often stick in the throat, 

 and jean neither be swallowed nor coughed up. Some- 

 times they can be reached with a finger or forced out by 

 sharp strokes upon the back between the shoulders, or by 

 tickling the inside of the throat to cause vomiting. If a 

 hard substance is lodged in the trachea a surgeon must be 

 called at once. 



If hard objects are swallowed, they should usually be 

 left to pass off with rejected portions of the food, without 

 the use of physic. Bread, cheese and crackers may be 

 eaten freely, that the foreign body may be surrounded by 

 the stiff, pasty material, and pass easily through the ali- 

 mentary canal. 



507. Foreign Bodies in the Eye. Dust, cinders, etc., get 

 under the eyelids and cause much discomfort. As the 

 conjunctiva, or lining membrane covering the inside of 

 the lids and the front of the eyeball, is one continuous 

 sheet of tissue, these particles cannot get behind the ball 

 and can usually be seen and removed. Often the flow of 



