Part 33
In case of sunstroke get the patient into the coolest place you can, loosen the clothes about his neck and waist, lay him down with his head a little raised, and cool him off as promptly as possible. Cloths wrung out in cold water, applied to the head, wrists and soles of the feet, are the simplest applications. In severe cases of extreme prostration from sunstroke, the patient should be immersed in cold water, and even in an ice pack to get prompt results. After a little recovery is visible careful nursing is the next important thing. Sunstroke is commonly a summer disease, but the same conditions may come from overwork in extremely hot rooms. It begins with pain in the head, or dizziness, quickly followed by a loss of consciousness and complete prostration. The head is often burning hot, the face dark and swollen, the breathing labored, and the extremities are cold. If the latter detail is observed, mustard or turpentine should be applied to the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet, after which the hands should be chafed with flannels or with the palms of the hands. In case of genuine sunstroke lose no time in calling the doctor.
FREEZING AND HOW TO TREAT A CASE
In cases of severe freezing, when a person is apparently frozen to death, great caution is needed. Keep the body in a cold place, handle it carefully, and rub it with cold water or snow for fifteen or twenty minutes. When the surface is red, wipe it perfectly dry and rub with bare warm hands. The person should be then wrapped in a blanket and breathing restored if possible as already directed. It may be necessary to continue the treatment energetically for several hours. A little lukewarm water, or wine, or ginger tea is recommended for the patient to swallow as soon as possible.
THE EYES AND HOW TO CARE FOR THEM
Here are some simple and sound rules for care of the eyes, as formulated by a recognized authority on the subject. Avoid reading and study by poor lights. Light should come from the side of the reader, and not from the back nor from the front. Do not read or study while suffering great bodily fatigue or during recovery from illness. Do not read while lying down. Do not use the eyes too long at a time for anything that requires close application, but give them occasional periods of rest. Reading and study should be done systematically. During study avoid the stooping position, or whatever tends to produce congestion of the blood in the head and face. Read with the book on a level with the eyes, or nearly so, instead of in your lap. Select well printed books. Correct imperfection in sight with proper glasses, not selected carelessly by yourself or bought from an irresponsible wandering peddler, but properly fitted by an educated optician. Avoid bad hygienic conditions and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Take sufficient exercise in the open air. Let physical culture keep pace with mental development, for imperfection in eyesight is most usually observed in those who are lacking in physical development.
STYES AND THEIR TREATMENT
A stye is a small boil which projects from the edge of the eyelid, and is sometimes much inflamed and very painful. A poultice of linseed meal or bread and milk will soothe it and soften it. When the stye forms a head showing matter, pierce it with a clean, sharp needle and then apply some mild, soothing ointment.
TO TAKE THE COLOR FROM A BLACK EYE
A black eye is usually caused by a blow and may be a very disfiguring object. If inflamed and painful wash the eye often with very warm water, in which is dissolved a little carbonate of soda. A repeated application of cloths wrung out of very hot water gives relief. A poultice of slippery elm bark mixed with milk and put on warm is also good. To remove the discoloration of the eye bind on a poultice made of the root of “Solomon’s seal.” It is often found sufficient to apply the scraped root at bedtime to the closed eye and the blackness will disappear by morning.
TO REMOVE BITS OF DIRT FROM THE EYE
To remove dirt or foreign particles from the eye take a hog’s bristle and double it so as to form a loop. Lift the eyelid and gently insert the loop under it. Now close the lid down upon the bristle, which may be withdrawn gently and the dirt should come with it.
=Another Process.=—Take hold of the upper eyelid with the forefinger and thumb of each hand, draw it gently forward and down over the lower lid, and hold it in this position for about a minute. When at the end of this time you allow the eyelid to resume its place, a flood of tears will wash out the foreign substance, which will be found near the lower eyelid.
If lime gets into the eyes, a few drops of vinegar and water will dissolve and remove it.
Olive oil will relieve the pain caused by any hot fluid that may reach the eye.
A particle of iron or steel may be extracted from the eye by holding near it a powerful magnet.
=When Something Gets into Your Eye.=—An easy method of removing bits of foreign bodies from the eye is to place a grain of flaxseed under the lower lid and close the lids. The seed becomes quickly surrounded by a thick adherent mucilage which entraps the foreign body and soon carries it out from the angle of the eye.
QUICK RELIEF FOR EARACHE
To relieve earache take a small piece of cotton batting, depress it in the center with the finger and fill up the cavity with ground black pepper. Gather it into a ball and tie it with thread. Dip the pepper ball into sweet oil and insert it in the ear, then putting cotton over the ear and using a bandage or cap to keep it in place. This application will give immediate relief and can do no injury.
=Another Remedy.=—Take a common tobacco pipe, put a wad of cotton into the bowl and drop a few drops of chloroform into it. Cover this with another wad of cotton, place the pipe stem to the suffering ear and blow into the bowl. The chloroform vapor will in many cases cause the pain to cease almost immediately.
INSECTS IN THE EAR—TO REMOVE
To destroy insects which fly or crawl into the ear, pour a spoonful of warm olive oil into the ear and keep it there for some hours by means of a wad of cotton batting and a bandage. Afterward it may be washed out with warm water and a small syringe.
TOOTHACHE—A QUICK RELIEF
One of the best mixtures to relieve acute pain and toothache is made as follows: Laudanum, one drachm; gum camphor, four drachms; oil of cloves, one-half drachm; oil of lavender, one drachm; alcohol, one ounce; sulphuric ether, six drachms, and chloroform, five drachms. Apply with lint, or for toothache rub on the gums and upon the face against the tooth.
DISAGREEABLE BREATH—HOW TO CURE
Of course if the trouble comes from the teeth by decay, it is a case for the dentist, and if because the teeth are not properly and frequently cleaned, the remedy is a toothbrush and a good tooth powder.
Bad breath, however, is frequently the result of low vitality or torpidity of the excretory organs, either the skin, bowels, kidneys, liver or lungs. Should one of these, the bowels, for instance, become affected, the others have more work to do. The lungs then have to throw off some of this waste matter, and the result is bad breath. If from one of these causes, or from the stomach, or from catarrh in the nose, a doctor should be called to treat the difficulty intelligently.
For temporary cleansing of the breath, however, the following recommendations are good. A teaspoonful of listerine to half a glass of water makes a wholesome and refreshing gargle and mouth wash. No harm is done if some of it be swallowed. A teaspoonful of powdered charcoal is a good dose to take. A teaspoonful of chlorine water in half a glass of water makes another good mouth wash.
Of course the teeth should be brushed twice a day at all times, and the listerine is the best of lotions for that use, particularly when used alternately with powdered chalk to whiten the teeth. Do not use a brush that is too stiff, and never brush so hard that you make the gums bleed.
TO STOP NOSEBLEED
A correspondent in the Scientific American declares that the best remedy for nosebleed is in the vigorous motion of the jaws, as if in the act of chewing. A child may be given a wad of paper or a piece of gum and instructed to chew steadily and hard. It is the motion of the jaws that stops the flow of blood.
HICCOUGHS—A SIMPLE CURE
A safe and convenient remedy for hiccoughs is to moisten a teaspoonful of granulated sugar with a few drops of vinegar. The dose is easy to take and the effect is almost immediate.
FELONS OR WHITLOWS AND THEIR TREATMENT
A felon, or whitlow, although not very large, may become not only very painful but dangerous if neglected. The milder ones may be treated with hot water, cloths and poultices, and if matter forms may be relieved by a lancet. There are others, however, which, if neglected, gradually affect the bone of the finger where they form, and these need the attention of a surgeon as soon as they begin to be very troublesome.
As soon as the finger begins to swell wrap the part affected with cloth soaked thoroughly with tincture of lobelia. This rarely fails to cure. Another simple remedy is to stir one-half teaspoonful of water into one ounce of Venice turpentine until the mixture appears like granulated honey. Coat the finger with it and bandage. The pain should vanish in a few hours. A poultice of linseed and slippery elm will help to draw the felon to a head, and when a small white spot in the center of the swelling indicates the formation of matter it should be carefully opened with the point of a large needle. A poultice of powdered hops will help to relieve the pain.
SIMPLE CURE FOR WARTS
Oil of cinnamon dropped on warts three or four times a day will cause their disappearance, however hard, large, or dense they may be. The application gives no pain and causes no suppuration.
CORNS AND CORN CURES
Corns are always the result of continued pressure, such as wearing shoes too small or not properly fitted to the foot. At first they are merely thickenings of the outer skin, but in time they come to be connected with the true skin beneath, and even with the muscles. There are almost as many corn cures advertised and recommended as there are corns, and sometimes they all fail, but here are a few of the most approved:
Soak the corn for half an hour in a solution of soda, and after paring it as closely as possible without pain apply a plaster of the following ingredients: Purified ammonia, two ounces; yellow wax, two ounces, and acetate of copper, six drachms. Melt the first two together and after removing them from the fire add the copper acetate just before they grow cold. Spread this ointment on a piece of soft leather or on linen and bind it in place. If this application is kept on the corn faithfully for two weeks there should be a certain cure.
The soft corn occurs between the toes and from the same causes, but in consequence of the moisture which reaches it, it remains permanently soft. It may be healed by first cutting away the thick skin from the surface, then touching it with a drop of Friar’s balsam and keeping a piece of fresh cotton for a cushion between the toes.
Tincture of arnica or turpentine will serve a similar purpose.
A small piece of lemon bandaged over a corn will help to relieve the pain and enable it to be treated to good advantage.
Corn plasters made of felt, with a hole punched through the center, will cushion the troublesome visitor so that it may be treated with the proper remedies and the pain be relieved at the same time.
BOILS AND CARBUNCLES—HOW TO TREAT THEM
=Boils= prove that an impurity exists in the blood, and the general health should be improved by means of careful diet and regular habits. The bowels must be kept open and regular, and the food should be simple, easily digested, and not heating.
Poultice the boil from the beginning with bread and linseed meal mixed with a little glycerine or sweet oil. When fully to a head and ripened the boil should be opened and the pus drained out. Then dress the wound with some soothing ointment spread on soft linen.
=Carbuncles= are apt to be much more serious than ordinary boils, and are very weakening to the system, in which they show a weakness already to exist. They should be carefully poulticed and treated as above, but the best advice is to call a good doctor and draw on his knowledge of treatment at once.
THE PROPER WAY TO MAKE A MUSTARD PLASTER
The making of a mustard plaster may seem a very simple thing, yet there are few households in which it is properly done. Care and attention must be given the work in order to have the results satisfactory.
A plaster should never be applied cold to a patient, the shock being too great. It should either be mixed with warm water or well heated after mixing. Strong ground mustard should be used, a little flour added, and the whole stirred to a smooth, thick paste with warm borax water, which soothes and prevents too great irritation. Some nurses add a teaspoonful of molasses or mix the mustard with the white of an egg. When prepared spread a piece of old linen on a warm plate, cover with the mixture, lay a second cloth over and apply at once. If allowed to remain on until the skin is burned or blistered, bathe gently with a little borax water, dry, and rub with vaseline.
DANGER IN DAMP SHEETS
Among the dangers which beset travelers in strange hotels and elsewhere is the really great peril of sleeping in damp sheets. It is hard enough to secure the proper airing of linen and clothes at home. Unless each article is unfolded and its position changed until all the moisture has been driven out of it, it is really not fully dried. As a matter of fact heavy articles, such as sheets, are scarcely ever thoroughly dry, and when delicate persons, perhaps fatigued by a journey, seek rest in a bed made of them, they risk rheumatism and other mischief. In case of doubt it is better to remove the sheets from the bed and sleep in the blankets until assured that the linen is thoroughly dry.
TAR AND TURPENTINE FOR DIPHTHERIA
The vapors of tar and turpentine are of great value in the treatment of diphtheria. The process is simple. Pour equal parts of turpentine and tar into a tin pan or cup and set fire to the mixture. A dense resinous smoke arises which clouds the air of the room. The patient immediately experiences relief. The choking and rattle in the throat stop, the patient falls into a slumber, and seems to inhale the smoke with pleasure. The vapors dissolve the fibrous membrane which chokes up the throat in croup and diphtheria, and it is coughed up readily. A remedy so convenient and so easily given should be in every household for prompt use when necessary.
Turpentine also is a convenient remedy for croup. Saturate a piece of flannel with it and place the flannel on the throat and chest. In a very severe case three or four drops in a lump of sugar may be taken internally.
TO PREVENT PITTING IN SMALLPOX
By careful treatment, pitting in smallpox may be generally prevented. One successful method is to dissolve India rubber in chloroform and then paint the skin, where exposed, with this solution, by means of a soft camel’s-hair brush. When the chloroform has evaporated, which it very soon does, a thin film of India rubber is left over the face. This relieves itching and irritation, and permits the patient to be more comfortable in addition to preventing the pitting. Another suggestion is to keep the whole body, face and all, covered with calamine, or native carbonate of zinc, which must be purified and pulverized for the purpose. It may be shaken onto the body from a common pepper box. To assist in relieving the inflammation sprinkle an ounce of powdered camphor between the under sheet and the pad on which it rests, scattering powder the whole length of the bed, and freely where the back and shoulders are lying. This gives great relief to the sufferer.
MEDICAL USES OF WHITE OF EGG
It may not be generally known that there is nothing more soothing for either a burn or a scald than the white of an egg. It is contact with the air which makes a burn so painful, and the egg acts as a varnish, and excludes the air completely, and also prevents inflammation. An egg beaten up lightly, with or without a little sugar, is a good remedy in cases of dysentery and diarrhea; it tends by its emollient qualities to lessen the inflammation, and by forming a transient coating for the stomach and intestines gives those organs a chance to rest until nature shall have assumed her healthful sway over the diseased body. Two, or at the most three, eggs a day would be all that would be required in ordinary cases, and since the egg is not only medicine but food, the lighter the diet otherwise and the quieter the patient is kept the more rapid will be the recovery.
LEMONS OF VALUE IN MANY USES
Lemons have a very wide variety of uses. For all people, either in sickness or in health, lemonade is a safe drink. It corrects biliousness. It is a specific or positive cure for many kinds of worm and skin diseases. Lemon juice is the best remedy known to prevent and cure scurvy. If the gums are rubbed daily with lemon juice it will keep them in health. The hands and the nails are also kept clean, white and soft by the daily use of lemon instead of soap. It also removes freckles and prevents chilblains. Lemon used in intermittent fever is mixed with strong, hot black tea, or coffee without sugar. Neuralgia may be relieved by rubbing the part affected with a lemon. It is valuable also for curing warts, and it will destroy dandruff on the head by rubbing the roots of the hair with it.
PAINTED WALLS BEST FOR SICK ROOMS
The walls of the room used for sickly members of a family should be painted so they can be easily washed. The painted wall is the only clean wall. A papered wall is an abomination where there is sickness, and a plastered wall can be made safe only by frequent whitewashing. But the painted wall may be washed with disinfectants when necessary, and when painted some dainty shade it is never a trial to sick eyes.
VALUE OF PLANTS IN THE SICK ROOM
It was once thought that it was injurious to the sick to have plants growing in the room, and science never did a kinder thing than when it proved the contrary to be true.
TO AVOID CONTAGION IN THE SICKROOM
If it is necessary to enter a sick room, particularly where there is fever, these simple rules should be observed to avoid contagion. Never enter fasting. At least take a few crackers or some such simple food before going in. Do not stand between the patient and the door where the current of air would naturally strike you. Avoid sitting on or touching the bed clothes as much as possible, and do not inhale the patient’s breath. The hands should always be washed in clean water before leaving the room, in order not to carry infection by them to other people or things you may need to touch. After visiting a fever patient change the clothes if possible. As soon as a fever is over and the patient is convalescent, the dress which has been used by the nurse should be fumigated in the same manner as the bedding, as already explained.
LIME AND CHARCOAL AS DISINFECTANTS
Housekeepers are gradually being educated up to a more practical knowledge of the laws of sanitation, and are coming to understand that cleanliness consists in something more than scrubbing the floors and washing the windows. Hence the following hint: A barrel each of lime and charcoal in the cellar will tend to keep that part of the house dry and sweet. A bowl of lime in a damp closet will dry and sweeten it. A dish of charcoal in a closet or refrigerator will do much toward making these places sweet. The power of charcoal to absorb odors is much greater directly after it has been burned than when it has been exposed to the air for a length of time. Charcoal may be purified and used again by heating it to a red heat. The lime must be kept in a place where there is no danger of its getting wet, and not exposed to the air.
CHLORIDE OF LIME AS A DISINFECTANT
Chloride of lime is a great purifier and disinfectant. One pound of it mixed with three gallons of water makes a solution which may be used for many purposes. To purify rooms, sprinkle it on the floor and even on the bed linen. Infected clothes should be dipped in it and wrung out just before they are washed. The lime without water may be sprinkled about slaughter houses, sinks, water closets and wherever there are offensive odors, and in a few days the smell will pass away. The odor of decaying vegetables or of dead animals is soon dispersed by the lime.
HOW TO PURIFY FOUL WATER
Two ounces of permanganate of potash thrown into a cistern will purify foul water sufficiently to make it drinkable. This is the disinfectant known as “Condy’s solution.” It is used in destroying the odors in the hold of vessels, and for many other disinfectant uses.
A WORD CONCERNING GOOD DIGESTION
In a recent novel one of the characters—a woman, of course—is made to speak the following interesting sentiments about husbands: “The very best of them don’t properly know the difference between their souls and their stomachs, and they fancy they are wrestling with their doubts, when really it is their dinners that are wrestling with them. Now, take Mr. Bateson hisself; a kinder husband or better Methodist never drew breath, yet so sure as he touches a bit of pork he begins to worry hisself about the doctrine of election till there’s no living with him. And then he’ll sit in the front parlor and engage in prayer for hours at a time till I say to him, ‘Bateson,’ says I, ‘I’d be ashamed to go troubling the Lord with such a prayer when a pinch of carbonate o’ soda would set things straight again.’”
A PRACTICAL SPRING REMEDY
It is nourishing and helps to clear out the system, to give sulphur and molasses every night for nine days some time during the spring. Sulphur and cream of tartar may be given instead. This may be made into little pills, using a little molasses to form a paste, and each pill being rolled in sugar.
CASTOR OIL—MAKING IT EASY TO TAKE
Castor oil may be taken with ease if its taste be disguised. One way is to put a tablespoonful of orange juice in a glass, pour the castor oil into the center of the juice, where it will stay without mixing, and then squeeze a few drops of lemon juice upon the top of the oil, rubbing some of the same juice on the edge of the glass. The person who drinks the dose without delay will find the nauseous flavor completely covered.
The French administer castor oil to children in a novel way. They pour the oil into a pan over the fire, break an egg into it and “scramble” them together. When it is cooked they add a little salt or sugar or some jelly, and the sick child eats it agreeably without discovering the disguise.
Castor oil may be beaten with the white of an egg until they are thoroughly mixed and not difficult to take.
CREAM OF TARTAR A MILD CATHARTIC
Cream of tartar is a good laxative. Take a teaspoonful mixed with a little sugar in a cup of warm water at night. If it does not have the desired effect, repeat the dose in the morning. It will often work off colds and other maladies in their incipient stage.
BOILED MILK FOR BOWEL DISEASES
Boiled milk, taken while still hot, is one of the best of foods in almost all bowel complaints, and is very successful as a remedy. In India, where the climate produces many such ailments, it is in constant use for such purposes. A physician in practice there says that a pint every four hours will check the most violent diarrhea, stomach ache, incipient cholera or dysentery. It is soothing and healing to the whole digestive tract. No patient will need other food during bowel troubles, so that the same simple preparation serves at once for medicine and nourishment.