'Nice doggie'
(And "nice doggie" may be giving him some disease)
1461. The dog as a distributer of disease. Dogs are often distributers of disease. They use their tongues for toilet paper and afterwards lick their coat or the hands of their friends. Petting dogs or letting them lick your hand is dangerous.
Boiling water to kill germs
1462. How to avoid swallowing disease. Do not drink water that is not known to be safe. If you have no one to ask and are traveling, it is safer to drink tea or coffee, because they have been made from boiled water, or to drink bottled mineral waters. In the field boil your drinking water. Boiled germs are dead and will not grow. They are, therefore, harmless.
Next!
(What germs will he leave on the cup?)
Beware of water from wells, farm pumps ponds, cisterns, water coolers and barrels, especially in railroad cars, stations, and ferry boats.
Do not drink lemonade, soft drinks, or milk from peddlers.
Beware of the public drinking cup.
Swallowing sickness
Always wash your hands before going to meals and before putting things into your mouth, especially after going to the toilet or handling animals.
Do not adopt strange dogs and do not pet dogs.
Before eating fruit or raw vegetables, wash and peel them unless picked from the tree by yourself.
Do not eat food that is spoiled, smells or tastes badly or is flyblown or maggoty or full of bugs.
Do not eat food which is not sufficiently cooked. All smoked, dried or salt meats or fish, such as ham, bacon, sausage, dried beef, bloaters, salt mackerel or codfish, must be well cooked, as they may contain "Measles" or other worm eggs. Cooking kills the egg.
Do not eat food exposed on public stands to dust, flies, dirty hands, dirty water, dirty cans, or dirty glasses and buckets.
Do not allow flies to breed in dirt or other filth around the house, nor allow them to walk on your food. This is possible by burning, burying or otherwise removing the dirt or filth, and by using fly traps, "swatters" and fly paper.
Do not wet lead pencils with your spit.
Do not wet your fingers with spit when you deal cards or turn over pages of books or magazines.
Keep the teeth brushed and the mouth clean. Have decayed teeth repaired at once. Decayed teeth drop out and they cause abscesses, which may destroy the jaw bone or cause brain fever. Old snags give the stomach the germs of rotting, which cause dyspepsia.
Diseases Caught by Touching the Germs
1463. The more common diseases. The following are some of the more common diseases caught by touching the germs: Ringworm, mange, barber's itch, sore eyes, boils, carbuncles, lockjaw, small pox, chancroid, syphilis, and gonorrhoea (clap).
1464. Ringworm, mange, and barber's itch. These diseases are carried from person to person by finger nails and hands and from dirty water to those who bathe in it or have their underwear washed in it.
1465. Lockjaw. The germs of lockjaw are found in manure and in soil fertilized with it; hence, a bullet which passes through such soil before wounding carries these germs into the wound. Any wound soiled with such dirt will be infected. Also, wounds made by toy pistols and fire-crackers often contain lockjaw germs.
1466. Chancroid, syphilis, and gonorrhoea (clap). These are diseases whose germs are usually caught from prostitutes and whores, or from husbands who have caught the germs from prostitutes and whores. They are called "Venereal diseases," after Venus, the Roman goddess of lustful love, but they are very often caught in other ways than in sexual intercourse, and by innocent persons.
The chancroid plant causes a very nasty sore, the chancroid, which often destroys much flesh and causes buboes. The germ can be carried on the fingers to any part of the body. When the chancroid is healed and the bubo becomes a scar the disease is cured.
The syphilis germ will grow first where it is rubbed in, causing a hard ulcer, called a chancre, and after that it travels through the entire body. No place is sacred to its destructive power and it lives as long as the patient does. It is the cause of much insanity, palsy, apoplexy, deafness, blindness and early death. In mothers it causes miscarriages and in children it causes stillbirths, freaks, deformities, feeble minds and idiots; also, deaf and dumb, palsied, stunted, sickly and criminal conditions.
A syphilitic person is always dangerous although apparently well. He often has a sore mouth and his spit is as dangerous as that of a mad dog. The bite of such a man will develop a chancre and any pipe, cup, or tooth pick which he uses, or his kiss, will give syphilis. A syphilitic tattooer who wets his needles and his India ink with spit will put a chancre into the skin with the picture.
The instruments of cheap advertising dentists and of quack doctors or ignorant nurses can carry these germs from one person to another. So can the razors and caustic stick of barbers who are careless.
The clap plant likes to grow in the linings of the openings of the body where it is dark and warm and moist where it causes a catarrhal discharge called clap, which is easily smeared on hands, towels, handkerchiefs or by actual contact.
It grows well in the eyelids, causing great damage and often blindness. Many babies get the clap plant into the eyes during birth, from the mother, and unless treated within a few minutes after birth, have sore eyes and go blind,—a terrible calamity to the child and the family. If you have clap the germs can be carried on your hands to your eyes.
The clap plant also grows well in the cavities of the joints, causing rheumatism and crippling; it grows in the heart, causing valvular heart disease, which is incurable, and also in the generative organs of men and women, causing self-made eunuchs and childless wives. It is the cause of most of the severe abdominal diseases of women requiring the use of the knife to cut out the diseased part.
The venereal diseases cause more misery than any others and most of the doctors would have to go into other professions to earn their living if these diseases did not exist.
When a young man is "sowing his wild oats" he is really planting in his own body the syphilis and clap plants, and the harvest will be greater than any other crop. He will reap it in days of bedridden misery, and possible sudden death. He will reap it in bitter hours by the bedside through the illness and death of his wife or in her long years of ill health. He will reap it in little white coffins, idiot babies; blind, deaf and dumb, sickly and stunted children. And it will cost him lost wages and hospital and doctor fees.
Yes, the wild oats crop is a bumper crop. King Solomon was wise when he warned his son against the harlot, "for her end is bitter."
The best way to avoid venereal diseases is to keep away from lewd women, and live a clean moral life. It is said by medical authorities that sexual intercourse is not necessary to preserve health and manly vigor, and that the natural sexual impulse can be kept under control by avoiding associations, conversations, and thoughts of a lewd character. However, persons who will not exercise self-control in this matter can greatly lessen the risks of indulgence by the prompt use, immediately upon return to camp or garrison, of the prophylaxis prescribed by War Department orders and which all soldiers are required to take after exposing themselves to the danger of venereal infection. Men who immediately after intercourse urinate and wash the private parts thoroughly with soap and water will lessen the chances of infection. Drunkenness greatly increases the risk of infection.
Should one be so unfortunate as to contract venereal disease, he should see a first-class, reputable physician AT ONCE, the sooner the better. It is a fatal mistake to try to conceal venereal disease by not seeing a doctor, he who does so is taking a most dangerous chance of ruining himself physically for life.
1467. How to avoid diseases caught by touching the germs. Keep your skin clean with soap and water.
Do not bathe or wash your clothes in dirty water, have them boiled when laundered.
Do not go barefoot, even in barracks.
Do not use towels or toilet articles of other people, especially in public wash-rooms unless they furnish a fresh towel for you. Do not sleep in houses left empty by the enemy unless ordered to do so.
Do not sleep in native shacks in the tropics.
Do not rub the eyes with dirty hands. When dirt gets in have a doctor get it out.
If you have clap, do not rub your eyes with your hands, and wash your hands well with soap and water after taking treatment or passing water.
Do not handle dogs or cats, especially strange or sickly ones.
Do not clean the ears with sticks or straws,—have a doctor do it for you.
Do not have cheap, advertising dentists fix your teeth. Have the army dentist fix them and see him at least once every six months,—or see a good civilian dentist.
Do not have pictures tattooed on your skin.
Do not smoke other men's pipes.
Do not handle or touch wounds with anything but a first aid package.
Beware of chipped drinking glasses in cafés, restaurants and other places. The slightest cut from such a glass whoso clipped part has been in contact with the mouth of a syphilitic person will give you syphilis.
Seek good companions like your mother and sister. Keep away from John Barleycorn. He always wants to turn you over to a harlot.
Whores and prostitutes are all diseased and will give you germs that will live to give diseases to you, your wife and your children, forty years from now. Keep away from them.
Diseases Caught from Biting Insects
1468. The more common diseases. The following are some of the more common diseases caught from the bites of certain insects: Malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever.
The germs of malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever live in the blood, and are sucked up into the blood by mosquitoes when they bite.
Malaria germs, however, will develop only in the mosquito called, Anopheles.
Yellow fever germs will develop only in the mosquito called, Stegomyia.
Dengue fever germs will develop in the mosquito called Culex and in Anopheles.
After a period of development in these mosquitoes the germs will find their way to the spit glands, and are injected into the person whom the mosquito bites. (Note. Male mosquitoes cannot bite.)
Absolutely the only way that malaria, yellow and dengue fevers can possibly be caught is from mosquitoes.
|
Fig. 8 The malaria mosquito (She stands on her head) |
Fig. 9 Culex the mosquito (She is humpbacked) |
1469. How to avoid malaria, yellow and dengue fevers. To avoid these diseases, which are carried by mosquitoes, we screen all houses with fine wire screens and use mosquito nets on the beds. Also, under certain conditions we take daily doses of quinine in malarious regions.
We kill the mosquitoes.
To do this we must know their habits.
Mosquitoes all lay eggs in water. These hatch out as wigglers or larvae, which have to come to the top frequently to breathe. In about twelve days or longer they turn into tumblers or pupas, which in a few days longer come to the top when their backs split open and the mosquito comes out and flies away.
The malaria mosquito is domestic like the chicken and lives around in houses hiding in the grass, bushes or dark corners and comes out to bite at night. When a settlement is abandoned the malaria mosquito moves away also. She rarely flies far from home and is not found much beyond 500 yards from a house. She lays her eggs in running clear water preferably, but she will accept water in hollow trees, between the leaves of lilies or air plants or in vases of flowers, or in cisterns and water butts.
Catching malaria
On Guard
(No mosquito bites for him)
The yellow fever mosquito is domestic like the house cat. She hangs around the house and rarely flies as far as the next house even, preferring to travel on a visitor's coat. She will bite in the day time and will lay her eggs in any little collection of water in the house, the eaves trough, the water barrel, old tin cans or bottles, pitchers, vases or the refrigerator drip.
The dengue mosquito is a marsh and town mosquito. She flies far and well and will breed in any sort of water, even brackish.
To kill mosquitoes—
Catch them in the house; empty all water from tin cans, old barrels, etc; cover with wire all cisterns and water barrels; fill in all puddles and drain off marshes; put oil on all pools and streams to choke the wrigglers; cut down grass and bushes around houses.
CHAPTER II
PERSONAL HYGIENE
1470. The knowledge of taking care of the body is called Personal Hygiene, the principal rules of which are as follows:
- 1. KEEP THE SKIN CLEAN.
- 2. KEEP THE BODY PROPERLY PROTECTED AGAINST THE WEATHER.
- 3. KEEP THE BODY PROPERLY FED.
- 4. KEEP THE BODY SUPPLIED WITH FRESH AIR.
- 5. KEEP THE BODY WELL EXERCISED WITHOUT EXHAUSTION.
- 6. KEEP THE BODY RESTED BY SUFFICIENT SLEEP.
- 7. KEEP THE BODY FREE OF WASTES.
Sanitation is the practice of the laws of Hygiene.
1471. RULE 1. Keep the Skin clean. A dirty body invites sickness. Small troubles such as chafing, sore feet, saddle boils, sore eyes, felons, whitlows, earache, toothache, carbuncles, fleas, lice and ringworms, are all caused by lack of cleanliness, and they put men on sick report.
Owing to excessive perspiration a daily bath with soap is desirable in summer and in the tropics, the year around. At least a weekly bath should always be taken when possible. When not possible to bathe, take a good rub daily with a dry towel.
Keep your feet clean with soap and water and put on dry socks before sleeping at night. Soiled socks should be washed and hung up to dry over night.
Keep your finger nails trimmed short with scissors or knife. Never bite them off. Keep them cleaned and keep your hands washed, especially at meal times.
Underwear must be washed in clean water, hot when possible and when soiled change as soon as possible.
Do not bathe or wash your clothes in dirty water. Bathing in water containing much alkali (hard water) or fine sand or mud will make the skin smart or chafe easily and cause sore eyes.
The hair of the head should be kept well-trimmed.
1472. RULE 2. Keep the body properly protected from the weather. Clothing of the soldier is worn as a protection. Too much causes sweating and exhaustion on the march and too little causes chills and frost bite.
Be careful to rebutton the clothing in winter time after attending to Nature's calls. Cold fingers may make you careless, but the cold is merciless and may cause a bad frost bite.
The first feeling of frost bite is numbness and the first sign is a marble whiteness. Frost attacks first the nose, ears, cheeks, fingers and toes.
Sun glare and snow blindness may be prevented by colored goggles or a handkerchief tied across the face with a small slit for the eyes or by greasing the face and eyelids and rubbing in charcoal around the eyes.
1473. RULE 3. Keep the body properly fed. Your company mess is sufficient for your needs and is wholesome, provided it is well chewed. Large lumps of food take a longer time to digest than small particles do, and so they tire the stomach and also cause constipation, gas and indigestion with headache.
Do not eat food left behind in strange houses or by the enemy, nor food that smells or looks badly.
If haversack rations are issued to you, do not eat them all at the first meal, but make a division for each meal. Stuffing will make you sick on a hike and later, hunger will drive you to eat things you would not touch at other times.
Before starting on the day's hike drink all the water you can and fill your canteen with water only.
Be sure your canteen does not leak.
After starting, do not drink anything until the end of the hike.
Do not eat ice or snow to quench thirst. It will make you more thirsty. Do not drink large quantities of cold spring water when heated,—it will give you a very bad bellyache.
Do not drink whiskey or beer, especially in the field. It will weaken you and favor heat exhaustion, sunstroke, frost bite and other serious troubles.
Alcohol muddles the mind and clouds thoughts, and so causes a feeling of carelessness and silliness that may ruin some military plan, or give the whole thing away to the enemy and with it the lives of yourself and your comrades.
The soldier who drinks alcohol will be among the first to fall out exhausted.
If you use tobacco, do not chew or smoke while marching. Tobacco is only a dope and increases the work of the heart.
A cup of hot coffee is a good stimulant.
1474. RULE 4. Keep the body supplied with fresh air. The brain, kidneys and other internal organs require oxygen (a part of the air) continually, and if deprived of it for five minutes, the body will die. Therefore, it is easy to see that we must continually get plenty of fresh air into the lungs to supply the blood which carries the oxygen throughout the body. Except in winter time when steam-heated barracks are filled with sleeping men, it is not, as a rule, difficult to get all the fresh air we need. The air in a dormitory should smell sweet and clean, even though warm. Fresh air should be continually admitted in a way that will not throw a draft on any of the sleepers.
It is much better to sleep in a cold room with fresh air than in a hot stuffy one.
Fresh air not only prevents consumption, but it will cure mild cases of consumption without other medicines.
1475. RULE 5. Keep the body well exercised without exhaustion. Exercise is absolutely necessary to good health. Lack of exercise of any set of muscles will cause them to grow flabby and weak. Outdoor sports are the best form of exercise, because they use all the body muscles, and are in the open clear air.
Exhaustion, on the other hand, not only weakens the muscles of the body, but it also lessens the vital forces and powers to resist germs.
1476. RULE 6. Keep the body rested by sufficient sleep. Give the body enough sleep. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep are enough for the average man, and you should always have that much in every twenty-four hours. Remember your comrades need it also; so, if you come in after taps, do not make a racket with slamming doors, heavy tramping, talking or whistling. And in camp be careful not to fall over tent ropes or step on other sleepers. Do not drink coffee at night,—it will keep you awake and rob your body of needed rest.
When on the march take advantage of every halt to rest your body. As soon as the command is given to fall out, select, if possible, a dry place on the side of the road to sit or lie on. If carrying the pack, loosen it and rest back on it, in a sitting or lying position. If the march has been a long one, lie flat on your back and raise the feet in the air. This is a quick way to remove the heavy dragged feeling of the feet and legs and to rest the heart, because the blood runs out of the legs into the body.
1477. RULE 7. Keep the body free of wastes. Get into the habit of emptying the bowels at a certain hour each day. Immediately after breakfast is a good time. This is a habit that can be cultivated just like any other habit. Cultivate it. It will do much to keep you in good health.
Always empty the bowels and bladder, especially the bowels, whenever you have the least desire to do so. Do not allow a little personal inconvenience or laziness to prevent you from doing this. The wastes from the bowels and bladder, especially the bowels, are poisons that should always be expelled from the body just as soon as possible.
The free drinking of water flushes the bladder and helps to loosen the bowels. A glass of hot water soon after reveille will not only help to loosen the bowels, but it will also benefit the stomach and flush out the bladder. Some people drink a big glass of water, either hot or cold, every morning before breakfast.
Proper physical exercise and eating ripe or cooked fruits will also do much to keep the bowels open.
Pressing and rubbing downward with the left hand on the lower left side of the belly will do much to induce a movement of the bowels.
Most constipation comes from swallowing food in large chunks, drinking large quantities of cold liquids with the meals and eating heavy articles of diet, such as beans, fried pork, hot bread.
Do not get into the habit of using laxatives to keep the bowels open. Their continued use is injurious. Use the natural means suggested above.
The constant moderate use of alcohol injures the kidneys and when they become too weak to work and throw off the waste, a deadly disease, called "Bright's Disease," results.
CHAPTER III
FIRST AID TO THE SICK AND INJURED
1478. Object of teaching first aid. The object of teaching first aid, or early assistance of the injured or sick, is not only to enable one person to help another, but also in some measure to help himself, until a surgeon or other thoroughly trained person can be seen.
It is a mistake to think you must know many things to be helpful, it is only necessary to know a few simple things, but you must understand them clearly and be able to do them well.
1479. Asphyxiation (suffocation) by Gas. Asphyxiation by gas is treated the same as in the case of drowning, omitting, of course, the operation of getting the water out of the body.
| 1480. Bite of dog. | Either requires immediate and heroic treatment. | |
| Bite of snake. |
Lose no time.
1. Prevent the poison from traveling toward the heart and brain by putting on at once a tourniquet between the wound and the heart.
2. Suck the wound and be sure to spit out the poison and rinse the mouth afterward. It is safe, if you have no cuts or sores on the lips or in the mouth.
3. Enlarge the wound with a knife (in the direction of the bone, not across) to make it bleed more freely, and again suck the wound.
4. Apply to the wound any strong acid or caustic, such as carbolic acid, lime, wood ashes or tincture of iodine, or burn it with a hot iron. Telegraph wire will do.
5. Wash out the wound with hot water and pack with equal parts of baking soda and salt, and apply a bandage.
6. Then, in the case of a snake bite, loosen the tourniquet little by little, taking about half an hour so as to permit any poison that may remain in the wound to be gradually absorbed by the blood. In the case of a dog bite, the tourniquet is loosened at once.
After the tourniquet has been removed, the patient must rest quietly for several hours. If he feel faint, he may have a stimulant,—alcohol, coffee or tea,—but do not give the stimulant before the poison has been removed from the wound, because stimulants increase the heart beats and thereby hurry the poison into the blood.
If the dog is not mad (rabid), the wound does not need treatment different from any other kind of a wound.
When bitten by a snake, kill it, if possible, and have it shown to a doctor for examination.
1481. Bleeding. The following comparison between the blood and the water in a city will enable you to understand easily the question of bleeding:
The {water/blood} flows from a pump called {waterworks/heart} through {rigid pipes/elastic tubes} called {watermains/arteries}. When there is a {leak/bleeding} the {plumber/doctor} stops the flow of the {water/blood} by {turning a key valve/pressing the blood tube shut} between the {waterworks/heart} and the {leak/bleeding cut} and then proceeds to repair the leak {by soldering/by sewing or by bandaging}. He then turns on the {water/blood} by {opening the valve in the water main/removing pressure on the blood tube}.
Fig. 2 shows where pressure with the thumb will squeeze the blood tube between the thumb and the bone.
Pressure with thumb at 1 checks bleeding of left side of chin cheek and jaw.
Pressure at 2 stops bleeding from big blood tube on left side of head and neck and face.
Pressure at 3 controls bleeding in arm pit and shoulder.
Pressure at 4 checks bleeding in arm pit and anywhere down the arm and hand.
Pressure at 5 stops bleeding of arm and hand.
Pressure at 6, on either leg, stops bleeding of leg and foot.
In addition to the pressure raise the leg or arm or head above the heart. This will slow the flow of the blood and lessen leakage.
However, one cannot hold the thumb forever on the blood tube, so we make an artificial thumb, called a tourniquet, which is a pebble or other hard object wrapped in some soft material (to prevent injury to flesh), which is pressed down on the blood tube and held in place by a strip of any material which can be tied so as to keep up the pressure.
A tourniquet, therefore, is like the valve in a water main.
|
The pebble |
This shows pressure applied by tourniquet (also called Spanish
windlass) instead of the hand and by direct pressure of the First Aid
Packet |
|
The pebble wrapped to protect the flesh |
|
|
The bandage tied around over the pebble |
|
|
The bandage twisted tightly by means of a windlass (stick) which is
held by another bandage |
|
| Fig. 3 | |
The above diagrams show how a tourniquet is applied.
Bandage to stop bleeding in arm
Bandage to stop bleeding in foot
When no one is around to assist you, sometimes it will be possible to plug the wound in your own body with the first aid packet or with your thumb or handkerchief.
When the bleeding is slight, or is from the scalp or palm of the hand, or sole of the foot, direct pressure upon the wound itself with the pad of the first aid package will often be sufficient to stop the leak.
Nature when left alone stops the leaks with her own solder, called blood-clot, which forms in the cut ends of blood tubes and corks them or seals them up until a scar forms a permanent seal.
Arm blown off at elbow
NOTICE:
1. Bandage on stump.
2. Tourniquet below to check bleeding.
3. Arm held upright to lessen bleeding.
4. Strap supports arm and also acts as a tourniquet.
1482. The dangers from a tourniquet are:
1. Gangrene,—that is, the death of a limb caused by the lack of blood, which has been cut off by the tourniquet. By watching the toes and finger tips and loosening the tourniquet if they are becoming blue black and remain white when pinched, gangrene may be prevented. However, the wound should be plugged before loosening the tourniquet.
2. Injury to nerves from pressure which may cause palsy (paralysis). However, that will generally pass off in a few days.
Compound fracture
1483. Broken Bones (Fractures). A broken bone or fracture is known by pain in a particular place that hurts on movement or when touched. Also, by a deformity or a movable lump, caused by the broken end of the bone.
A broken bone should be handled with the greatest possible care. Careless handling may cause the broken ends to pierce the flesh and stick out through the skin. This is called a compound fracture, and is serious, because it adds fuel to the fire by making a doorway for germs to enter, which may cause death or the loss of the limb. Furthermore, careless handling may make the bones grow together in a bad position, causing a deformity.
The best way to treat a broken leg or arm bone is as follows: (Fig. 8.)
Pull until the ends come together. You can tell this by the relief the patient feels and by the limb assuming its proper length,—that is, the same length as the other side.
Points to note:
Plenty of grass between the legs.
Plenty of grass between injured leg and splint.
Splint extends from arm pit to foot.
The other leg is used for a splint.
Plenty of strapping to keep leg quiet.
1484. To keep the ends of the bones in place, fasten to the limb two boards or any other substance that will not bend. Such boards or other substance are called splints. They act as artificial bones. All splints should be well padded with some soft material like raw cotton waste, grass (be sure the grass contains no biting insects), leaves, hay or excelsior, to prevent pressure of the soft flesh on the ends of the bones.
When the thigh bone is broken, put a splint from the arm to the ankle and use the other leg as a splint. Fasten them by bandages, belts, gun sling, etc., passed around the chest, waist, hips, knees and ankle.
When an arm is put in a splint, hang the hand and forearm in a sling. It will give much relief.
When the jaw is broken, the upper jaw makes a good splint.
When the collar bone is broken this makes a good treatment: Fig. 10.
Treatment for broken ribs, left side
The patient breathes all the air out of the chest and at that moment the strap is buckled tightly. This prevents the broken ends of the ribs from tearing the flesh or the lungs. Notice the roll of shirt which acts as a pad.
A broken rib is treated by putting a wide strap or bandage around the chest and drawing it tight while all the air is breathed out.
This keeps the rib quiet and the man will breathe with his belly instead of his chest.
A broken skull usually makes a man unconscious and may cause death. It is recognized by a wound or swelling of the scalp and a dent in the skull. A doctor should be called at once. Always examine an unconscious man for injury to the head.
1485. Burns. If clothing sticks to the burn, do not try to remove it, but cut around it. Prick blisters at both ends with a perfectly clean needle, and remove the water by gentle pressure, being careful not to break the skin.
A good application for a burn is carbolic acid dissolved in water (a teaspoonful in a pint of water), or tincture of iodine dissolved in water (one teaspoonful in a pint of water, to which is added as much salt as will cover a dime), or olive oil, vaseline or butter.
Lacking the remedies named above, ordinary baking soda or flour may be dusted on the unbroken skin, or a cloth dampened with salt water that has been boiled, to which may be added the same amount of whiskey or brandy as there is water.
Another application for burns recommended by some, is the scraping of a raw potato, renewed when it feels hot.
Different burns should be treated as follows:
Sunburn,—treat with olive oil, vaseline or butter, or with a glycerine or witchhazel, applying with a dampened cloth.
Quicklime or lye,—treat with vinegar.
Carbolic acid,—treat with alcohol.
Other acids,—treat with baking powder or lime water.
1486. Burning clothes, particularly those of women and children, has been the unnecessary cause of many horrible deaths, either from ignorance of the proper means of extinguishing the flames, or from lack of presence of mind to apply them. A person whose clothing is blazing should (1) immediately be made to lie down—be thrown if necessary. The tendency of flames is upward, and when the patient is lying down, they have not only less to feed upon, but the danger of their reaching the face, with the possibility of choking and of ultimate deformity is greatly diminished. (2) The person should then be quickly wrapped up in a coat, shawl, rug, blanket or any similar article, preferably woolen, and never cotton, and the fire completely smothered by pressing and patting upon the burning points from the outside of the envelope.
The flames having been controlled in this way, when the wrap is removed, great care should be taken to have the slightest sign of a blaze immediately and completely stifled. This is best done by pinching it but water may be used. Any burns and any prostration by shock should be treated in the manner prescribed for them.
1487. Bruises. The best treatment for a bruise is heat.
A hot brick or a bottle of hot water wrapped in cloth, towels wrung out of hot water, or even an electric light bulb, will give much relief.
However, always remember this: Never put the hot object on the bare skin—always wrap the source of heat in a thick cloth to hold the heat in and at the same time protect the skin. If not practicable to do this wrap the source of heat, then spread a towel over the skin before applying the hot object.
If you use an electric bulb, watch it closely, as it will char and possibly set things on fire.
The above treatment is also excellent for lumbago, stiff neck, and stiff muscles.
A tub bath as hot as you can stand it is fine for refreshing tired, stiff muscles. It is also good for lumbago.
1488. Chiggers. Apply kerosene oil. Bacon is also excellent, and so is butter or lard with salt.
1489. Choking. Foreign body in the throat. The common practice of slapping the back often helps the act of coughing to dislodge foreign bodies in the windpipe.
If this does not succeed, have the patient lie over a chair with his head down low or hold him as in the first step to revive a drowning person and have him cough. When in either of these positions have some one slap him on the back so as to induce coughing.
The above failing, give him a large amount of warm water with a little salt, mustard or baking soda in it, and then have him put his finger in his throat so as to induce vomiting which will often bring up the obstruction.
In children, and even in adults, the expulsion of the body may be facilitated by lifting a patient up by the heels and slapping his back in this position.
If none of the methods above described are successful, summon a physician, taking care to send him information as to the character of the accident, so that he may bring with him the instruments needed for removing the obstruction.
1490. Cuts. Small cuts should be treated with tincture of iodine or washed with alcohol (bay rum or listerine will do) and bandage up. Large wounds may be similarly cleaned and then closed by adhesive plaster.
1491. Diarrhoea. Apply warm bandages to the belly. Some woodsmen recommend the following: Fire brown a little flour to which two teaspoonfuls of vinegar and one teaspoonful of salt are added; mix and drink. They claim this is a cure nine cases out of ten. A tablespoonful of warm vinegar and teaspoonful of salt will cure most severe cases. Also, hot ginger ale or hot water containing a teaspoonful of witch hazel is good. Repeat any of the above drinks about every hour.
Take a purgative, which will usually expel the offending cause, generally too much undigested food.
1492. Dislocations. The place where two bones come together is called a joint.
When two bones forming a joint are knocked apart, it is called a dislocation, and the bones are said to be out of joint.
The first sign of a dislocation is the accident.
The second sign is immediate interference with the motion of the joint and awkwardness in using the limb.
The third sign is deformity of the joint,—it looks queer when compared with the same joint on the other side.
If you are unsuccessful after trying several times to replace a dislocation, get a doctor.
If no doctor is available, make the man sick by having him drink some warm salt water and then put his finger in his throat.
When he vomits the muscles and ligaments (tissue connecting the joints) will relax and you may be able to get the bone back in place.
After replacing the bones put the joint at rest with a large compress and bandage.
When uncertain as to whether you have to deal with a broken bone or a dislocated joint, give treatment for a broken bone, because rest and quiet for the injured part are good in either case.
The following diagrams show the usual methods of replacing dislocations:
| To put the arm bone back into the shoulder socket | ||
|
1st move Rest your weight at elbow, pulling downward, until the muscles at the shoulder are tired and will stretch. |
2nd move Swing the elbow across, close to the chest, and place the hand on other shoulder. |
3rd move Keep the elbow close to the chest and bring the hand forward as if held out for a penny. This should twist the bone into the socket. |
| Relocating the jaw | Relocating thumb |
|
When the jaw bone is out of place, the man cannot shut his mouth. Put both thumbs (protected by a handkerchief) on the lower teeth and with the forefingers at the angles of the lower jaw push down in the back of the jaw. |
When the thumb bone is dislocated it must be PUSHED into place—not pulled. |
| Relocating finger | |
| Pull the finger bone back into place. | |
| Fig. 12 | |
1493. Drowning. Rescuing. Approach the drowning man from behind, seizing him by the coat collar, or a woman by the back hair, and tow at arms length to boat or shore. Do not let him cling around your neck or arms to endanger you. Duck him until unconscious if necessary to break a dangerous hold upon you; but do not strike to stun him.
A drowning person does not come to the top three times before giving up.
Reviving. When a person is apparently drowned he is unconscious and not breathing because his lungs are full of water and his skin is blue and cold because no air is getting into his blood to redden it and warm it; remember the heart does not stop until some time after the breathing stops. If we can get air into the blood and start breathing again before the heart stops we can save the patient's life. If we cannot get the breath started in time the heart stops and the patient is then dead.
Our problem then is this:
1. To get the water out of the lungs.
2. To get the air into the lungs and start the man breathing before the heart stops.
Emptying the lungs is precisely similar to emptying a bottle.
The lungs are the bottle, the windpipe is the neck of the bottle and the cork of the bottle may be the tongue turned back in the throat or mud and leaves from bottom of the pool and bloody froth in the nostrils. We therefore—
| 1. | Pull out the cork. | |
| Remove mud, mucus, etc., and pull the tongue forward. |