CHAPTER VIII.

SAVING LIFE;

or,

How to Deal with Accidents.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 23. BE PREPARED FOR ACCIDENTS.

The Knights Hospitallers of St. John--Boy Heroes and Girl Heroines--Life-Saving Medals.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

_The subjects in this chapter should not only be explained to the scouts, but should also, wherever possible, be demonstrated practically, and should be practised by each boy himself in turn._

_Theoretical knowledge in these points is nothing without practice._

THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN.

The knights of old days were called Knights Hospitallers, because they had hospitals for the treatment of the sick poor and those injured in accidents or in war. They used to save up their money to keep these hospitals going, and they used to act as nurses and doctors themselves. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem especially devoted themselves to this work 800 years ago, and the St. John's Ambulance Corps is to-day a branch which represents those knights. Their badge is an eight-pointed white cross on a black ground, and when worn as an Order it has a black ribbon.

Explorers and hunters and other scouts in out-of-the-way parts of the world have to know what to do in the case of accident or sickness, either to themselves or their followers, as they are often hundreds of miles away from any doctors. For these reasons boy scouts should, of course, learn all they can about looking after sick people and dealing with accidents.

My brother was once camping with a friend away in the bush in Australia. His friend was drawing a cork, holding the bottle between his knees to get a better purchase. The bottle burst, and the jagged edge of it ran deeply into his thigh, cutting an artery. My brother quickly got a stone and wrapped it in a handkerchief to act as a pad, and he then tied the handkerchief round the limb above the wound, so that the stone pressed on the artery. He then got a stick, and, passing it through the loop of the handkerchief, twisted it round till the bandage was drawn so tight that it stopped the flow of blood. Had he not known what to do, the man would have bled to death in a few minutes. As it was, he saved his life by knowing what to do, and doing it at once.

[_Demonstrate how to bind up an artery, and also the course taken by the arteries, viz., practically down the inside seam of sleeves and trousers._]

Accidents are continually happening, and Boy Scouts will continually have a chance of giving assistance at first aid. In London alone during the past year 212 people were killed and 14,000 were injured in street accidents.

We all think a great deal of any man who at the risk of his own life saves someone else's.

He is a hero.

Boys especially think him so, because he seems to them to be a being altogether different from themselves. But he isn't; every boy has just as much a chance of being a life-saving hero if he chooses to prepare himself for it.

It is pretty certain that nearly every one of you scouts will some day or another be present at an accident where, if you know what to do, and do it promptly, you may win for yourself the life-long satisfaction of having rescued or helped a fellow-creature.

Remember your motto, "BE PREPARED." Be prepared for accidents by learning beforehand what you ought to do in the different kinds that are likely to occur.

Be prepared to do that thing the moment the accident does occur.

I will explain to you what ought to be done in the different kinds of accidents, and we will practise them as far as possible.

But the great thing for you scouts to bear in mind is that wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, you should think to yourself, "What accident is likely to occur here?" and, "What is my duty if it occurs?"

You are then prepared to act.

And when an accident does occur, remember always that as a scout it is your business to be the first man to go to the rescue; don't let an outsider be beforehand with you.

Suppose, for instance, that you are standing on a crowded platform at a station, waiting for the train.

You think to yourself, "Now, supposing someone fell off this platform on to the rails just as the train is coming in, what shall I do? I must jump down and jerk him off the track on to the far side into the six-foot way--there would be no time to get him up on to the platform again. Or if the train were very close the only way would be to lie flat and make him lie flat too between the rails, and let the train go over us both."

Then, if this accident happened, you would at once jump down and carry out your idea, while everybody else would be running about screaming and excited and doing nothing, not knowing what to do.

Such a case actually happened last year. A lady fell off the platform at Finsbury Park Station just as the train was coming in; a man named Albert Hardwick jumped down and lay flat, and held her down, too, between the rails, while the train passed over both of them without touching them. The King gave him the Albert Medal for it.

When there is a panic among those around you, you get a momentary inclination to do as the others are doing. Perhaps it is to run away, perhaps it is to stand still and cry out "Oh!" Well, you should check yourself when you have this feeling. Don't catch the panic, as you see others do; keep your head and think what is the right thing to do, and do it at once.

Then last year that disgraceful scene occurred on Hampstead Heath, where a woman drowned herself before a whole lot of people in a shallow pond, and took half-an-hour doing it, while not one of them had the pluck to go in and bring her out. One would not have thought it possible with Englishmen that a lot of men could only stand on the bank and chatter, but so it was--to their eternal disgrace.

It was again a case of panic. The first man to arrive on the scene did not like going in, and merely called another. More came up, but finding that those already there did not go in, they got a sort of fear of something uncanny, and would not go in themselves, and so let the poor woman drown before their eyes.

Had one Boy Scout been there, there would I hope have been a very different tale to tell. It was just the opportunity for a Boy Scout to distinguish himself. He would have remembered his training.

Do your duty.

Help your fellow-creature, especially if it be a woman.

Don't mind if other people are funking.

Plunge in boldly and look to the object you are trying to attain, and don't bother about your own safety.

Boys have an idea that they are too young and too small to take any but an outside part in saving life. But this is a great mistake. In the Boys' Brigade last year nine boys got the Cross for saving life, eight of them for saving other people from drowning. All aged between 13 and 16.

Cyril Adion (13) and Newlyn Elliott (17) also saved lives from drowning last year, and a small boy only nine years old, David Scannell, was given a silver watch at St. Pancras for saving a child's life at a fire.

In addition to this, a boy named Albert Abraham was recommended for the highest honour that any man can get for saving life, and that is the Albert Medal.

Three boys were climbing up some cliffs from the seashore, when one of them fell to the bottom and was very badly hurt. Another climbed up the rest of the cliff and ran away home, but told nobody for fear of getting into trouble. The third one, Albert Abraham, climbed down again to the assistance of the boy who had fallen, and he found him lying head downwards between two rocks, with his scalp nearly torn off and his leg broken.

Abraham dragged him up out of reach of the tide, for where he had fallen he was in danger of being drowned, and then replaced his scalp and bound it on, and also set his leg as well as he could, and bound it up in splints, having learned the "First Aid" duties of the St. John's Ambulance Society. Then he climbed up the cliff and gathered some ferns and made a bed for the injured boy.

He stayed with him all that day, and when night came on he still remained with him, nor did he desert him even when a great seal climbed on to the rocks close to him and appeared to be rather aggressive. He drove it off with stones.

Parties went out and eventually rescued both boys, but the injured one died soon after, in spite of the efforts that Albert Abraham had made to save him.

In talking of boys I may as well state that the same remark applies to women and girls, that they are not only capable of doing valuable work in saving life, but they have done so over and over again.

For the Albert Medal a small girl aged nine has been recommended. Kate Chapman endeavoured to rescue two small children from being run over by a runaway cart. She succeeded in doing so, but was herself run over and badly injured in the attempt.

Mrs. Ann Racebottom was awarded the Albert Medal in 1881 for rescuing some school children when the roof of the schoolhouse had fallen in upon them and she got them out by crawling in under the falling ruins at the greatest risk to her own life.

Doris Kay, of Leytonstone, is only eight years old, but she was awarded the diploma for life saving by the Royal Humane Society last year.

LIFE-SAVING MEDALS.

In war, as you know, the Victoria Cross is awarded to soldiers for performing acts of valour.

So, in peace, a decoration is given to anybody who distinguishes himself by bravery in saving life at the risk of his own.

The Albert Medal is the highest of these rewards.

The Royal Humane Society also give medals or certificates.

The Edward Medal is granted for gallantry in accidents which so frequently happen in mines.

In the Boys' Brigade medals are given for acts of daring and self-sacrifice in saving life or marked courage in the face of danger.

In the Boy Scouts we have a medal for gallantry, which is granted for similar acts.

But of all these the Albert Medal and the Edward Medal are the most valued, being given by the King himself, and only in very special cases.

So let every Boy Scout prepare himself to win one of these. Some day, most probably, an accident will happen before you to give you your chance. If you have learnt beforehand what to do, you can step forward at once and do the right thing; you may find yourself decorated with the medal. In any case, you will have what is far greater than a mere medal--you will have the satisfaction of having helped a fellow-creature at the risk of your own life.

PRACTICE FOR LIFE SAVING.

FLINGING THE SQUALER.

The squaler is a piece of cane, 19 inches long, loaded at the butt with 1-3/4lb. of lead, and having attached to it at the other end a life-saving line of six-thread Italian hemp. The target is a crossbar and head, life-size, representing the head and arms of a drowning man, planted in the ground twenty yards away. Each competitor throws in turn from behind a line drawn on the ground; he may stand or run to make the throw. Whoever throws the furthest wins, provided that the line falls on some part of the dummy, so that it could be caught by the drowning man.

Or have heats to find out who is the worst thrower.

Practise throwing a life-belt in the same way.

Practise making two lines of bucket-men, for full and empty buckets. Each line to relieve the other frequently by exchanging duties.

Practise carrying, unrolling, and rolling up hose. Joining up lengths. Affixing to hydrants. Throwing on water, and directing its fall.

Practise use of ladders, poles, ropes, lowering people from window by ropes or bed-clothes. Jumping sheet and shoot-escape; how to rig, hold, and use carpets or double blankets, but not flimsy ones or sheets.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 24. ACCIDENTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM.

Panic--Fire--Drowning--Runaway Horse--Mad Dog--Miscellaneous.

PANICS.

Every year numbers of lives are lost by panics, which very often are due to the smallest causes, and which might be stopped if only one or two men would keep their heads. One evening, two years ago, on board a ferry-boat in New York, a man who had been catching some crabs thought it would be a good joke to let one of them loose on board the boat. This crab caught hold of the ship's cat and made it squeal, and it jumped into the middle of a crowd of schoolgirls, who at once scattered screaming. This started a panic among the hundreds of passengers on board; they rushed in every direction, and in a moment the railings broke and eight people fell overboard, and before anything could be done they were swept away by the tide and drowned.

In Germany, a girl who was bathing suddenly pretended to be drowning, just for fun. Three men sprang into the river to rescue her, but one began to sink, and another went to his help, and both were drowned. And only last September a tobacconist in a town in Russia, on opening his shop in the morning, saw a big black bomb lying on the counter. He rushed out into the street to get away from it, and a policeman seeing him running mistook him for a thief, and when he would not stop he fired at him. The bullet missed him, but hit another man who was a Jew; the remainder of the Jews immediately collected and made a riot, and many lives were lost. After it was over, the tobacconist went back to his shop and found the bomb still on his counter, but it was not a bomb, it was only a black water-melon!

Only the other day occurred a case of panic among children in a theatre at Barnsley, when a crush and panic occurred from no cause at all except overcrowding, and eight children were crushed to death. More lives would certainly have been lost had not two men kept their heads and done the right thing. One man named Gray called to a number of the children in a cheery voice to come another way, while the man who was working a lantern-slide show threw a picture on the screen and so diverted the attention of the rest, and prevented them catching the panic. That is the great point in a panic. If only one or two men keep their heads and do the right thing on the spur of the moment, they can often calm hundreds of people and thus save many lives.

This is a great opportunity for a Boy Scout. Force yourself to keep calm and not to lose your head. Think what is the right thing to do and do it at once.

RESCUE FROM FIRE.

Instances of gallant rescues of people from burning houses are frequent. One sees them every day in the newspapers, and scouts should study each of these cases as they occur, and imagine to themselves what they would have done under the circumstances, and in this way you begin to learn how to deal with the different accidents. An instance occurred only the other day where a young sailor named George Obeney stationed at Chatham in H.M.S. _Andromeda_ was walking along the Kingsland Road, when he suddenly saw a house on fire, and a woman on the second storey was screaming that she had some children there who could not get out. The sailor rushed from his friends and somehow scrambled up the face of the wall till he reached the window on the first storey and broke in that window so that he could obtain room to stand. The woman at the window above was then able to lower a child so that he could catch it, and he again passed it down to the ground. Child after child was thus handed down till he passed six of them to the ground, and finally two women, and then he, overcome by smoke himself, fell insensible, but was caught by the people below. His act was an example to you of how to do your duty AT ONCE without thinking of dangers or difficulties.

In January, 1906, at Enfield Hospital, the Children's Ward caught fire in the middle of the night, and a number of children would probably have been burnt before the firemen arrived on the spot had it not been that the matron, Miss Eardley, rushed over from her house in her nightdress and fixed up the fire-hose and played it on the flames while the two night nurses set to work and rescued twenty children out of the burning building.

The Boys' Life Brigade have taken up the instruction of boys in what to do in cases of fire.

DIRECTIONS.

These are some of their directions:

If you discover a house on fire you should

1st. Alarm the people inside.

2nd. Warn the nearest policeman or fire brigade station.

3rd. Rouse neighbours to bring ladders, mattresses, carpets, to catch people jumping.

After arrival of fire engines the best thing boys can do is to help the police in keeping back the crowd out of the way of the firemen, hose, etc.

The Boys' Life Brigade are taught a certain drill called "Scrum" for keeping back the crowd. They form a line or double line, and pass their arms round each other's waists, and shove, head down, into the crowd, and so drive it back.

If it is necessary to go into a house to search for feeble or insensible people, the thing is to place a wet handkerchief or worsted stocking over your nose and mouth and walk in a stooping position, or crawl along on your hands and knees quite near the floor, as it is here that there is least smoke or gas. Also, for passing through fire and sparks, if you can, get hold of a blanket and wet it, and cut a hole in the middle through which to put your head, it forms a kind of fireproof mantle with which you can push through flames and sparks. [_Practise this._]

When a fire occurs anywhere near the Boy Scouts should assemble their patrols as quickly as possible, and go off at scouts' pace to the fire, guided by the glare or the smoke. Then the patrol leader should report to the police or firemen, and offer the help of his patrol either to keep the crowd back or to run messages or guard property or to help in any way.

If you find a person with his clothes on fire, you should throw him flat on the floor, because flames only burn upwards, then roll him up in the hearthrug or carpet, coat or blanket, and take care in doing so that you don't catch fire yourself. The reason for doing this is that fire cannot continue to burn when it has no air. Then pour water over the patient to put out all sparks.

When you find an insensible person (and very often in their fright they will have hidden themselves away under beds and tables, etc.), you should either carry him out on your shoulder, or what is often more practicable in the case of heavy smoke, gas fumes, etc., harness yourself on to him with sheets or cords, and drag him out of the room along the floor, crawling on all fours yourself.

[_Practise this by tying a bowline round the patient's waist, another round his ankles, and another round your own neck. Turn your back to him, go on all fours with the rope underneath you, and thus drag him out. Also practise the "Fireman's Lift" for getting an insensible person on to your shoulders._]

RESCUE FROM DROWNING.

The list of Boys' Brigade heroes shows you what a large proportion of accidents are due to not knowing how to swim. It is therefore most important that every boy should learn to swim, and having done so to learn how to save others from being drowned.

Mr. Holbein, the great Channel swimmer, writing in _The Boys' Own Paper_, points out that a boy, when learning to swim, should learn first how to get in and out of a boat, _i.e._, by climbing in over the stern. Secondly, how to support himself on an oar or plank, _i.e._, by riding astride on it, or by catching hold of one end and pushing it before him and swimming with his legs. Thirdly, how to get into a floating lifebuoy, _i.e._, by shoving the nearest side of it down under water and capsizing it over his head and shoulders, so that he is inside it when it floats. Fourthly, how to save life.

[_Practise these at swimming baths or bathing parade._]

A moderate swimmer can save a drowning man if he knows how, and has practised it a few times with his friends. The popular idea that a drowning person rises three times before he finally sinks is all nonsense. He often drowns at once, unless someone is quick to help him. The important point is not to let the drowning person catch hold of you, or he will probably drown you too. Keep behind him always. If you find yourself clutched by the wrist, turn your wrist against his thumb, and force yourself free. Your best way in helping a drowning man is to keep behind and hold him up by the hair, or by the back of the neck, or by putting your arms under his armpits, and telling him to keep quiet and not to struggle; if he obeys, you can easily keep him afloat; but otherwise be careful that in his terror he does not turn over and catch hold of you. If he should seize you by the neck, Holbein says, "Scrag him, and scrag him quickly. Place your arm round his waist, and the other hand, palm upwards, under his chin, with your finger-tips under his nose. Pull and push with all your might, and he must perforce let go." But you will never remember this unless you practise it frequently with other boys first, each taking it in turns to be the drowning man rescuer.

[_Practise this._]

Among the innumerable cases of saving life from drowning, Mr. Scullion was recommended for the Albert Medal. He sprang into the river to save a boy from drowning who had fallen between the wharf and the ship's side. When he got hold of the boy there was no room for him to swim in that narrow space, and the tide was very strong, so he dived down, taking the boy with him, under the ship's bottom, and came up in open water on the other side of the ship, and then easily swam to a boat and thus rescued him. Had he not kept his head and dived under the ship, it is probable that both would have been drowned.

Any of you who cannot swim as yet, and who fall into the water out of your depth, remember that you need not sink if you can remember to do the following things. First, keep your mouth upwards by throwing the head well back. Secondly, keep your lungs full of air by taking in long breaths, but breathe out very little. Thirdly, keep your arms under water. To do this you should not begin to shout, which will only empty your lungs, and you should not throw your arms about or beckon for help, else you will sink.

[_Practise this position._]

If you see a person fall into the water and begin to drown, and you yourself are unable to swim, you must throw him a rope, or an oar, or plank right over him, so that when he comes up again he may clutch at it and hold it. If a person falls through ice, and is unable to get out again because of the edges breaking, throw him a rope, and tell him not to struggle. This may give him confidence until you can get a long ladder or pole which will enable him to crawl out, or will allow you to crawl out to catch hold of him.

RESCUE FROM RUNAWAY HORSES.

Accidents are continually recurring from runaway horses running over people. In fact, on an average, the number of runaway horses that are stopped by policemen during the year amounts to over two hundred; and it is well that everybody should know how to stop a runaway horse, and thus to save numerous accidents and injuries.

Private Davies, of the 16th Lancers, was awarded the Albert Medal, at Aldershot, for stopping the horses of an artillery wagon, which had become unmanageable and run away. The driver, who was riding one of them, had been thrown off, and the horses were careering down hill towards the married quarters of the cavalry barracks, where a number of children were at play, when Private Davies, seeing the danger to the children, ran to the horses, and seizing the off horse with his right hand, held on to the shaft with his left, and endeavoured to stop the waggon. He was dragged in that position for some yards when the chain fastening the shafts to the waggon gave way and let the shafts fall, bringing Davies also to the ground.

The waggon passed over his legs, and very severely injured him, and, though he did not actually succeed in stopping the horses, he so diverted them from their course that time was given for the children to be saved from being run over.

Not long ago a lady was being run away with by her horse in Hyde Park. The animal was tearing along quite mad with fright, and though she was a good rider and kept her head, she had no control over him whatever.

The danger was that the road on which he was galloping, though straight for a good distance, turned at the end very sharply, and was bounded by a high iron railing. Now a horse when he is thoroughly frightened seems to lose his sight as well as his wits; he will run over a cliff or into a wall without trying to stop, and on this occasion it seemed most likely that he would charge into the great iron railings at the end of the road, and the consequences to the girl on his back would have been too awful to think of.

In front of her as she came thundering along were two gentlemen riding quietly along talking together, heading in the same direction that she was going. One of them--it was the Hon. George Wyndham, at that time Chief Secretary for Ireland--turned his head to see what was happening behind him, and in one moment he grasped the whole situation, saw what to do, and did it. He saw that a girl was being rushed to her death by the maddened horse if something were not done to stop it, or to make it turn round the corner at the end of the road which was now not far away.

Now what would any of you have done had you been in Mr. Wyndham's place?

He saw that to put his horse across her path would be easy, but if he did so it would probably throw both horses down, and possibly kill both riders; so what he did was to put his own horse at once into a gallop, and for a moment it looked as if he were running away, with the lady chasing him at full speed. But it soon became evident what he was doing.

He gradually let the lady's horse overtake him until its head was abreast of him and close alongside him, then he gradually turned his own horse for taking the corner, and, pressing all the time against the shoulder of the lady's horse, forced it also gradually to turn with him till it was safely directed away from the railings and into the new direction of the road, and here, while still keeping partly ahead of it, he got hold of its reins, and in a short time succeeded in pulling it up and bringing it to its senses.

This is a lesson to everyone to BE PREPARED, even at most ordinary moments of strolling along, talking to a friend, to spring at once to the assistance of a fellow-creature who is in danger.

The other day I myself found a horse and cab running away over Westminster Bridge, but I stopped it without any difficulty. The way to stop a runaway horse is not to run out in front of it and wave your arms, as so many people do, but to try and race alongside it, catch hold of the shaft to keep yourself from falling, and seize the reins with the other hand, and drag the horse's head round towards you, and so turn him until you can bring him up against a wall or house, or otherwise compel him to stop. But, of course, for a boy, with his light weight, this is a very difficult thing to do. The share he would have in such an accident would probably be to look after the people injured by the runaway horse.

MISCELLANEOUS ACCIDENTS.

One cannot go through the whole list of accidents that might come under your notice, but the point is that a scout should always remember to keep his head, and think what is the right thing to do at the moment, and be the man to do it, even under the most unexpected circumstances.

Police-Sergeant Cole was awarded the Albert Medal some years ago for removing a dynamite bomb, which he found in Westminster Hall. It was already lit for exploding, and instead of running away and taking cover himself he snatched it up and rushed out of the place and flung it away, and very nearly lost his life in the explosion which followed immediately after. Had he hesitated to think what would be the best thing to do he would probably have lost his own life, and have allowed the place to be smashed up.

A man named John Smith was awarded the Albert Medal, because one day, when at his work in a steel-casting factory, a great, red-hot steel ingot, weighing 26 tons, was about being hoisted out of a casting-pit, when one of the workmen named Stanley slipped, and fell into the pit, which was fifteen feet deep, alongside the ingot in a space of about two feet, which existed between the ingot and the wall of the pit. John Smith immediately got a ladder and ran down into the next pit, from which there was a passage communicating into the first one, and in this way he managed to get into the lower part of the ingot pit and drag Stanley out of it into the empty one. Stanley died of his burns two days later, but Smith, though badly burnt himself, recovered to wear the Albert Medal.

MAD DOG.

A dog that is mad runs along snapping at everybody in his path. Every scout should know what to do when there is a mad dog about, and should be prepared to do it.

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was one day out for a ride when his dog, which was running with him, went mad, and started to run through the town.

Sir Thomas edged him off the road and drove him into a garden. He then jumped off his horse, ran at the dog, and succeeded in grabbing him by the neck without getting bitten. Then followed a tremendous struggle between man and dog.

At last the gardener came and brought a chain which Sir Thomas then clipped on, and only when the other end had been securely fastened to a tree he let go his hold of the dog. The dog was then raving mad and tore at his chain so badly that it was in danger of breaking, when Sir Thomas went at him again with a second and stronger chain, and pinning him down by the neck with a pitchfork he fastened it on to him. When this was done and the pitchfork removed the dog sprang at him with such force that it burst the old chain. Luckily the new one held. And soon after the dog died.

The way to prevent a dog biting you is to hold a stick, or even a handkerchief, in your two hands across your front, and the dog will generally try to paw it down before he actually bites you, and you may thus get a chance of landing him a kick under the jaw.

PRACTICES IN LIFE-SAVING.

Practise scrum for keeping back crowd at fire.

Practise holding and wrestling with drowning men.

How to prevent a man shooting another with pistol.

Make ladders out of poles, twine, and cross sticks.

Instruct scouts to know the position of neighbouring fire plugs and hydrants, police points, fire alarms, fire stations, ambulances, hospitals, etc.

BOOKS TO READ.

"Manual of Boys' Life Brigade": Life-saving Drill. Price 2d. (56 Old Bailey, London.)

"Manual of Fire Drill" of London County Council. 1s. (P. King and Son, 9 Bridge Street, Westminster.)

"Swimming." By Prof. Holbein. 1s. (A. Pearson, Ltd.)

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 25. HELPING OTHERS.

Rendering First Aid--Suicides--How to Carry a Patient.

RENDERING FIRST AID.

[NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR.--_It is impossible in the short space at one's disposal to give all the details of First Aid. These can be found in any of the books mentioned at the end of this Camp Fire Yarn._]

In an accident when you are alone with the injured person, if he is unconscious lay him on his back with his head a little raised and on one side so that he does not choke, and so that any vomit or water, etc., can run out of his mouth. Loosen the clothing about his neck and chest. See where he is injured and treat him according to what you are taught in learning "First Aid."

If you have found the man lying insensible you should carefully examine the ground round him for any "sign," and take note of it and of his position, etc., in case it should afterwards appear that he had been attacked by others.

[_Practise above, one boy as patient, the other to find him. Make "sign" round the patient._]

If you are out with a patrol and an accident happens, or you find an injured man, the patrol leader should direct one scout to go for a doctor; he himself will attend to the patient with one scout to help him. The corporal will use the other scouts in assisting by getting water or blankets, or making a stretcher, or keeping the crowd back.

As a rule, it is best to keep the patient quite quiet at first; unless it is necessary, do not try to move him; and don't bother him with questions until he recovers a bit.

[_Practise above._]

ARTIFICIAL BREATHING.--To restore anyone who is apparently drowned, it is necessary at once to clear the water out of his lungs, for which purpose therefore you should incline him face downwards and head downwards, so that the water may run out of his mouth, and to help it you should open his mouth and pull forward his tongue; take off the wet clothing and wrap him in blankets if possible, and rub and move his limbs as much as possible to get back the circulation of the blood. After running the water out of the patient, place him on his side with his body slightly hanging down, and keep the tongue hanging out. If he is breathing let him rest; if he is not breathing, you must at once endeavour to restore breathing artificially. Lay him flat on his front with his arm bent and placed under his forehead to keep his nose and mouth on the ground. Put a folded coat or pillow under his chest and let his head hang down. In this way his tongue will not block his throat, and any water or slime can run out. Then either stand astride of him or kneel alongside him, and, placing both your hands on his lower ribs, press steadily down and forwards to drive any air out of his body for three or four seconds, and then ease up to let the air come in again through the throat, then press down again. Continue this pressing and easing, counting four to each movement, until the patient begins to breathe again. Sometimes this doesn't happen till you have been trying for an hour or even more.

This is called the Schafer method, and can be used equally well for drowned people or for those overcome with smoke or gas fumes.

[_Make the scouts, in pairs, practise above._]

SMOKE OR FUMES.--Accidents are continually occurring from escapes of gas in mines, sewers, and houses.

In endeavouring to rescue a person, keep your nose and month well covered with wet rags, and get your head as close to the floor as possible, and drag the insensible person out as I have suggested in case of a fire. Drag your patient as quickly as possible into the fresh air--(I say as quickly as possible, because if you delay about it you are very apt to be overcome by the noxious gas yourself)--then loosen all his clothing about the neck and chest, dash cold water in his face and apply burnt feathers under his nose. If you find that he is no longer breathing, then treat him as you would a drowned person, and try and work back the breath into his body.

BURNS.--In treating a man who has been burnt, remove his clothes, not by peeling them off, but by cutting them with a SHARP knife or scissors. If any part of the dress sticks to the skin from having been burnt there, do not tear it away but cut the cloth round it, then as quickly as possible protect the burnt parts from the air which causes intense pain. The best way to protect them is by dusting them with powdered chalk or flour, or by laying strips of lint well soaked in sweet oil or linseed oil, and covering the whole with cotton wool. Keep the patient warm, and give warm drinks, such as hot tea, hot milk, or spirits and water.

Major John Garroway, M.D., strongly recommends, instead of flour or oil to stop the pain of a burn, to put a piece of paper firmly over the wound, and the pain will be relieved in a few seconds.

ACID BURNING.--A case occurred only the other day of a woman throwing vitriol over a man's face. This is an awful acid which burns and eats away the flesh wherever it touches. Fortunately a policeman happened to be on the spot at the time and knew what to do. He at once applied water to wash off the acid, and then applied flour or whitening to protect the wound from the air and ease the pain.

BROKEN LIMBS.--You may get persons with broken limbs or stunned. In the case of broken limbs you would learn what to do in passing your ambulance course, which every boy scout ought to pass before he can be considered to be fully trained. You would there learn how to know when a limb was broken, and how to tie it up between splints made of pieces of wood, rolls of newspaper or rushes, bundles of twigs, walking sticks, or any other articles that will make a straight support for the limb. [_Practise this._]

BLEEDING.--When a man is bleeding badly from a wound, squeeze the wound or the flesh just above it--that is between the wound and the heart--press it hard with your thumb to try and stop the blood running in the artery. Then make a pad with something like a flat rounded pebble, and bind it over the wound. If bleeding violently, tie a handkerchief loosely round the limb above the wound and twist it tight with a stick. [_Demonstrate this._] Keep the wounded part raised above the rest of the body if possible. Apply cold water, or ice if possible, wet rags, etc.

FAINTING.--If your patient faints and is pale--fainting comes from too little blood in the head--let him lie flat down with head on the ground. If his face is flushed raise the head--there is too much blood in it, as in apoplexy or sunstroke.

FITS.--A man cries out and falls, and twitches and jerks his limbs about, froths at the mouth, he is in a fit. It is no good to do anything to him but to put a bit of wood or cork between his jaws, so that he does not bite his tongue. Let him sleep well after a fit.

POISONING.--If a person suddenly falls very ill after taking food, or is known to have taken poison, the first thing to do is to make him swallow some milk or raw eggs. These seem to collect all the poison that is otherwise spread about inside him. Then, if the mouth is not stained or burnt by the poison, make him sick if possible by giving him salt and warm water, and try tickling the inside of his throat with a feather. Then more milk and eggs and weak tea. If the poison is an acid that burns, the patient should not be made to vomit, but milk or salad oil should be given. The patient should be kept awake if he gets drowsy.

BLOOD-POISONING.--This results from dirt being allowed to get into a wound. Swelling, pain, red veins appear. Fomenting with hot water is the best relief.

CHOKING.--Loosen collar; hold the patient's nose with one hand and with the forefinger of the other, or with the handle of a spoon try and pull out whatever is stuck in his throat. By pressing down the root of the tongue you may make him sick and throw out the obstruction. For slight choking make patient bend head well back and swallow small pills made of bread, and sip of water. Sometimes a good hard smack on the back will do him good.

SNAKE BITE.

Fortunately poisonous snakes are uncommon in England, but if you travel in a colony you are sure to come across them, and you ought always to know how to deal with bites from them. The same treatment does also for wounds from poisoned arrows, mad dogs, etc. Remember the poison from a bite gets into your blood and goes all through your body in a very few beats of your pulse. Therefore, whatever you do must be done immediately. The great thing is to stop the poison rushing up the veins into the body. To do this bind a cord or handkerchief immediately round the limb above the place where the patient has been bitten, so as to stop the blood flying back to the heart with the poison. Then try and suck the poison out of the wound, and, if possible, cut the wound still more, to make it bleed, and run the poison out. The poison, when sucked into the mouth, does no harm unless you have a wound in your mouth. The patient should also be given stimulants, such as coffee or spirits, to a very big extent, and not allowed to become drowsy, but should be walked about and pricked and smacked in order to keep his senses alive.

[_Practise this process in make-believe._]

GRIT IN THE EYE.

Do not let your patient rub the eye; it will only cause inflammation and swelling, and so make the difficulty of removing the grit all the greater.

If the grit is in the lower eyelid, draw down the lid as far as you can, and gently brush it out with the corner of a moistened handkerchief, or with a paintbrush, or feather.

If it is under the upper lid, pull the lid away from the eyeball and push the underlid up underneath the upper one. In this way the eyelashes of the lower lid will generally clean the inside of the upper one.

Another way, which every scout must practise, is to seat your patient and stand behind him yourself with the back of his head against your chest. Lay a card, match, or any flat substance under your own thumb on the upper part of the upper eyelid and then catch hold of the edge of the eyelid and draw it upwards over the match so that it turns inside out; gently remove the grit with a feather or wet handkerchief, and roll the eyelid down again.

If the eye is much inflamed, bathe it with lukewarm weak tea.

If the grit is firmly embedded in the eye, drop a little oil (olive or castor oil) into the lower lid; close the eye and bandage it with a soft wet pad and bandage, and get a doctor to see it.

[_Practise above._]

SUICIDES.

I was once travelling in the train in Algeria, a part of North Africa which belongs to the French, and there was with me only one other passenger in the carriage, a French farmer, with whom I got into conversation. He became very communicative, and told me that if I had not come into the carriage he would by this time have been a dead man, as he had got into the train with the intention of killing himself. So I asked him about his troubles, and, as he unfolded them to me, I was able to tell him various remedies which promised success for him in the future, for he was chiefly upset over his recent failures in farming. After we had been going on for some time, he quite cheered up, and told me that he was going to get out at the next station, and go back and set to work in the way suggested.

You may have opportunities of saving people who are thinking of killing themselves. The newspapers give cases of suicides almost every day, and go into details of them, because they know that so many people have a foolish love of reading horrors.

Most people at one time or the other of their lives get a feeling that they will kill themselves; as a rule they get over it in a day or two, and find that it comes from nothing worse than an attack of indigestion, liver, or influenza, or from disappointment, or over-anxiety; but there are others with weaker minds, who read these newspaper accounts, and brood over them till they can think of nothing else. They hug the idea to themselves, although with horror, and get panic-stricken. They think too much of their own trouble, without thinking how the rest of the world is doing.

It only needs a sympathising friend to come along and take command of the would-be suicide, and to give him something else to think about and to do. You can point out that suicide does no good to anybody; that it generally comes from something wrong with the bodily health, which makes the patient hysterical; that he has only got to command his own mind firmly, and the attack will pass off again. Then, if possible, try to get a Salvation Army officer to see him; he will probably set him right. In this way you may be able to save lives.

[_The Salvation Army have now a department which gives advice to people who are feeling inclined to kill themselves. This past year 1125 men and 90 women have applied to their London office alone; and of these probably three-quarters would have killed themselves if it had not been for the sympathy and advice of the officers who reasoned with them, and found for them ways out of their difficulties. The official returns of suicides for the past year show a much smaller number than usual._]

Where a man has gone so far as to attempt suicide, a scout should know what to do with him. In the case of a man cutting his throat, the great point is to stop the bleeding from the artery, if it be cut. The artery runs from where the collarbone and breast-bone join, up to the corner of the jaw, and the way to stop bleeding is to press hard with the thumb on the side of the wound nearest to the heart, and pressure should be kept up as hard as possible until assistance arrives. [_Demonstrate this._] In a case where the would-be suicide has taken poison, give milk and make him vomit, which is done by tickling the inside of the throat with the finger or a feather, or pouring down his throat a tumbler of water mixed with a tablespoon of mustard or salt.

In the case of hanging, cut down the body at once, taking care to support it with one arm while cutting the cord. Cut the noose, loosen all tight clothing about the neck and chest. Let the patient have as much fresh air as possible, throw cold water on the face and chest, or cold and hot water alternately. Perform artificial breathing as in the case of apparently drowned people.

A tenderfoot is sometimes inclined to be timid about handling an insensible man or a dead man, or even of seeing blood. Well, he won't be much use till he gets over such nonsense; the poor insensible fellow can't hurt him, and he must force himself to catch hold of him; when once he has done this his fears will pass off. And if he visits a butcher's slaughterhouse he will soon get accustomed to the sight of blood.

At Reading, not long ago, two men were severely reprimanded by the coroner for being afraid to go and cut down a man who had hanged himself--they only ran and fetched someone else, and so he was killed. What would you have done had you been one of the men?

HOW TO CARRY A PATIENT.

(See National Health Society's Manual.)

TO CARRY SINGLE-HANDED AN UNCONSCIOUS PERSON.--Turn patient on his face. Raise him into a kneeling posture. Kneel, and place yourself across and under him, so that his stomach rests on your right shoulder. Pass your right arm between his thighs and behind his right thigh. With your left arm draw his left hand forwards under your left, and grasp the wrist with your right hand; then raise yourself to an erect position.

[_Make scouts practise this in pairs._]

WITH TWO HELPERS TO CARRY A CONSCIOUS PERSON. (See Manual.)

STRETCHERS may be arranged in some of the following ways:

(a) A hurdle, shutter, door, gate, covered well with straw, hay, clothing, sacking.

(b) A piece of carpet, blanket, sacking, tarpaulin, spread out, and two stout poles rolled up in the sides. Put clothes for a pillow.

(c) Two coats, with the sleeves turned inside out; pass two poles through the sleeves; button the coats over them.

(d) Two poles passed through a couple of sacks, through holes at the bottom corners of each.

In carrying a patient on a stretcher be careful that he is made quite comfortable before you start. Let both bearers rise together; they must walk _out of step_, and take short paces. It should be the duty of the hinder bearer to keep a careful watch on the patient.

[_Practise these different methods._]

HOW TO PRACTISE.

_In practising First Aid it is a great thing to bespatter the patient with blood to accustom the rescuer to the sight of it, otherwise it will often unnerve him in a real accident. Sheep's blood can be got from the butcher's shop._

_Prepare a heavy smoke fire in a neighbouring room or building (if possible on the first floor), while you are lecturing in the club room. Secretly arrange with two or three boys that if an alarm of fire is given they should run about frightened and try to start a panic._

_Have the alarm given either by getting someone to rush in and tell you of the fire, or by having some explosive bombs fired. Then let a patrol, or two patrols, tackle the fire under direction of their patrol leaders. They should shut windows and doors. Send scouts into different parts of the building to see if the fire is spreading, and to search for people in need of rescue._

_These scouts should have wet handkerchiefs over their months and noses. "Insensible" people (or sack dummies) should be hidden under tables, etc._

_Scouts rescue them by shouldering or dragging them out and getting them down to the ground. Use jumping sheet, shoot, etc._

_Other parties lay and connect the hose, or make lines for passing fire buckets._

_Another party revive the rescued by restoring animation. Another party form "scrum" to help the police and fire brigade by keeping the crowd back._

GAMES.

"DRAGGING RACE." A line of patients of one patrol are laid out at one hundred yards distance from start. Another patrol, each carrying a rope, run out, tie ropes to the patients, and drag them in. Time taken of last in. Patrols change places. The one which completes in shortest time wins. Knots must be correctly tied, and patients' coats laid out under their heads.

BOOKS TO READ.

"Aid to the Injured or Sick." H. W. Gell, M.B. Twopence. (Published by G. Gill & Sons, 13, Warwick Lane, London, E.C.)

National Health Society's Booklets, one penny, on hygiene and sanitation. Same publishers.