THE MEDICAL DRAWER.
How many of our readers know how to perform artificial respiration?
Only a very small proportion, we are afraid. Yet everyone ought to
know how to do it, for rarely does a girl go through her life without
encountering a situation where a knowledge of how to perform artificial
respiration would be the means of saving the life of one of her fellow
creatures.
Every girl ought to be taught how to perform artificial respiration
when she is at school. This immensely important aid ought to be able to
be rendered by every man, woman or child in the world. It is the most
important, and perhaps the easiest of all measures for the saving of
life.
Let us see if we can explain to you how to perform artificial
respiration. Two persons are required. Place the patient on her back,
open her mouth, pull her tongue forward and wipe out her mouth and
throat, so as to clear it of any blood or whatever it may contain,
which would hinder the air from entering her chest.
Each of you must then take hold of one arm, with one hand grasping the
forearm and the other grasping the upper arm. Now start. Slowly draw
the arms away from the chest and elevate them above the head. Pull the
arms as high above the head as you possibly can. Rest for two seconds,
then slowly bring the arms down again to the side of the chest, cross
them over the chest, press upon the chest, and gently press upon the
pit of the stomach. Again rest for two seconds, then elevate the arms
again and repeat the performance as long as necessary. Never be in a
hurry. The performance is no good at all unless it is done slowly.
Now we will tell you where artificial respiration is necessary.
Suppose you are on the scene when a person is dragged out of the water
after drowning. The person is unconscious, but not dead. What are you
going to do? Place her on her chest, and squeeze out of her chest
any water that you can. Wipe out her mouth and throat. Pull out her
tongue, turn her on to her back, and perform artificial respiration.
Get someone else to wrap her up in blankets, and apply warmth to the
extremities. But do not discontinue the artificial respiration until a
surgeon arrives, or until the patient breathes regularly in a normal
way, or until some other pair of philanthropists relieve you.
If you find a person hanging, cut her down, wipe out her mouth and
perform artificial respiration at once.
If someone is found unconscious in a room where gas is escaping, bring
her out into the fresh air and perform artificial respiration at once.
If a person is suffocated in the smoke of a fire, or an infant is
smothered by the bed-clothes, take her out into the fresh air and
perform artificial respiration at once.
In all these cases, the patients are in the greatest peril of their
lives, and if you run after assistance, they will die in your absence.
But one might almost say that a person cannot die while proper
artificial respiration is being performed upon her.
Now let us wander to another emergency—the treatment of acute poisoning.
First find out if you can what poison the person has taken. Most
poisons cause vomiting, intense pain in the stomach, collapse with
pallor and coldness of the fingers and toes, and cold sweats. Purging,
cramps in the calves, unconsciousness, and heavy noisy breathing are
also common.
The cause of the symptoms of poisoning is the presence of the poison
in the body. Therefore the first item of treatment is to get as
much of the poison as you can out of the body. Therefore make the
patient vomit. Give her an emetic for every poison except the strong
mineral acids (sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric acids) and the
strong alkalies (caustic soda, caustic potash, and strong solution of
ammonia). In poisoning from these you must not give an emetic.
The best of all emetics is a large tablespoonful of mustard in a
tumblerful of tepid water. Therefore in poisoning from anything except
the six drugs mentioned above, give mustard and water before you do
anything else.
Then loosen the clothes about the person’s neck, and apply warmth to
her extremities. The further treatment depends upon the nature of the
poison.
For the strong acids, sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric and acetic, give
the patient magnesia, if you have it handy. If not, give her dilute
solution of soda.
For the alkalies, caustic soda, caustic potash, or ammonia, give
dilute vinegar. For poisoning with copper or mercury salts, give
white of eggs. For oxalic acid or salts of lemon or salts of sorrel,
give lime or chalk. For opium, give hot coffee and perform artificial
respiration. For prussic acid or cyanide of potassium, apply cold water
to the spine, and perform artificial respiration.
If you have done these things, the doctor, when he arrives, will
probably find the patient at all events alive. The further treatment,
of course, belongs to him. But if you have rendered your first aid, it
will make a very great difference to the patient.
Let us leave this chapter of horrors. But one moment—we want to say
something to you about fainting. We suppose it has been the experience
of very nearly everybody to see a girl faint in church.
It is rather a hot stuffy day in July, and Miss Jones goes to church;
but the place is rather more crowded than customary, for the sermon
promises to be more interesting than usual.
About the middle of the service Miss Jones feels “queer.” She reels a
bit, utters a faint cry and falls down “in a heap” fainting. Confusion
at once reigns. The gentlemen about her lift her up, elevate her head
and take her out of the church.
What is a faint? It is the momentary cessation of the heart’s action.
The heart stops for a second. The brain is deprived of blood. It
instantly ceases its function. The body drops as if inanimate. It
is this dropping down in a heap which prevents the brain from being
deprived of blood for long. It is this which saves the person from
danger.
When a person falls down in a faint, leave her alone. Unloose her
collar if you like, but under no circumstances should you elevate her
head. Let her head be the lowest part of her body. Remember this! Let
the head of a fainting person be the lowest part of the body.
Afterwards you may give her a little sal volatile and fresh air. But it
really does not matter what you do as long as you pay attention to the
position of the head.
Oh, by the way, we were talking about our medicine chest! Let us return
to our subject, and exactly describe the box and its fittings. The box
should be made of metal, not wood. The reason for this is that metal
is such a clean material, and when it has been soiled, it is a simple
matter to wash it, whereas wood holds the dirt, and is not by any means
so easily cleaned.
A japanned cash-box makes as good a medicine chest as anything. One
about twelve inches long, six inches broad, and six inches deep, makes
a capital medicine chest. Certainly it is quite large enough! What
would you have? What is the good of a medicine box that you cannot
carry about?
We keep a medicine chest of the size above mentioned. We find it
quite large enough for when we are travelling “off duty.” It is quite
sufficiently large to carry all that we require for emergencies. Of
course it is furnished differently from what yours should be; but, as
regards size, it is only ten inches long, six inches broad, and six
inches deep.
A new cash-box makes the best of all medicine chests. No, you do not
want partitions, nooks and crannies. The simpler the box is the better.
But it must be clean. When you have got your box, dust it and rinse it
out with warm carbolic solution, and let it thoroughly dry.
Now let us start to furnish it. Surgical necessities first.
A glass syringe, about eight inches long, with the piston fitted with
an asbestos plug, and not wound round with string. This is useful
for washing wounds, etc. A needle mounted in a holder for removing
splinters, etc. A pair of small, well-made, nickel-plated forceps for
removing splinters, etc. A pair of small, blunt-pointed, nickel-plated
dressing scissors. These scissors are for cutting dressings, etc. No
other pair of scissors must be used for dressings, and the dressing
scissors must never be used for any other purpose.
These are all the instruments you require. They should be kept
scrupulously clean, and wrapped up in small pieces of chamois leather
when put away.
The dressings you require are these: Sal alembroth gauze. This is
absorbent gauze impregnated with perchloride of mercury. It is coloured
blue to distinguish it from other kinds of gauze. We have described how
it is used for dressing wounds. It is an excellent material with which
to dress any abrasion or cut or raw surface.
We are not going to allow you to have any poisons in your box, except
carbolic acid. We must allow this, for it is indispensable. Oh, it
is not that we do not trust you with poisons; but no one who is not
a physician ought to keep poisons in her house, for you never know
who may meddle with them. And besides, you can never get a sufficient
knowledge of drugs to enable you to use any of the poisons with safety.
Of course, perchloride of mercury is a very powerful poison, and so we
suppose that sal alembroth gauze is too; but it is quite safe to keep
it, and it can no more be called a poison than can lead water-pipes or
silver spoons.
The second dressing you require is lint. This is very useful for
many purposes, such as for spreading ointment upon or for making
fomentations.
Then you want cotton wool. Either the best white absorbent wool or else
the blue wool—the companion to sal alembroth gauze.
For bandages keep white calico ones, eight yards long, and two and one
inches broad.
Just a little piece of sticking-plaster to keep dressings upon the
face, where bandaging is difficult, and a fair-sized piece of either
oiled silk or green protective to cover over fomentations, complete the
list.
A half-pint bottle of carbolic acid dissolved in water (1 in 20) is the
first application required. Then you want about an ounce of powdered
boracic acid for dressing wounds; and an ounce pot of boracic acid and
eucalyptus ointment.
To allay the pain of bruises do not use tincture of arnica; but apply
the following lotion on a piece of uncovered lint: one part of spirit
and one part of solution of acetate of ammonia (B.P.) to eight parts
of water. When the pain of a bruise has been allayed, the absorption
of the residual swelling and discoloration may be hastened by gentle
massage. So much for the surgical requisites.
We are of opinion that the less you have to do with drugs the better.
People cannot understand that if a drug has a powerful action in
disease—if, for instance, a drug will stop convulsions—it will have an
action if given to a perfectly healthy person, and that action will do
harm to the body.
The drugs which we advise you to keep in your medicine chest are all
perfectly safe; but at the same time they all have definite actions.
The liquids should be kept in half-ounce bottles. They should be
labelled with the names of the drugs, their doses, and the complaints
for which they are used.
Mind you, this box is to treat emergencies. It is to serve you when you
cannot obtain medical aid. Do not imagine that when you possess this
box you can consider yourself independent of medical science. This box
is for emergencies, and for emergencies only.
These are the preparations the box should contain:—
1. _Sal Volatile._—For fainting. Half a teaspoonful in a small
wineglassful of water.
2. _Brandy._—A teaspoonful—_not more_—for collapse from poisoning after
an emetic has been given and has acted. Also for fainting and colic.
People always give too much brandy. A teaspoonful at a time is ample.
If necessary, this dose may be repeated.
3. _Ipecacuanha Wine._—For the early stages of cough. Ten to twenty
drops on a lump of sugar or in water. For children two to eight drops.
This is one of the very few drugs which may be given to children for
cough.
4. _Oxymel of Squills._—A very useful preparation for cough with
profuse expectoration. Especially useful for elderly persons, the
subjects of chronic winter cough. The dose is half a teaspoonful.
5. _Solution of Carbonate of Ammonia_ (1 in 10).—A very useful adjunct
to the two former for coughs. The dose is ten to thirty minims in
water, either with or without ipecacuanha or squills.
6. _Spirit of Ginger._—Half a teaspoonful of this in a wineglassful of
water will relieve flatulency, colic, and diarrhœa.
All these liquids must be measured. A glass minim measure must
therefore be kept in the box.
These are all the liquids. Not a very formidable list, is it? Now for
the solids. The best way to keep these is in the form of pills or
tabloids. Some, however, are best as powders.
7. _Liquorice Powder._—Dose, one teaspoonful. Mild aperient. Best kept
as a powder.
8. _Bicarbonate of Soda._—One of the most valuable of all medicines.
Dose, ten to thirty grains or more. For indigestion with acidity. May
be kept in powder or in tabloids.
9. _Bicarbonate of Soda and Sub-nitrate of Bismuth._—For indigestion
with vomiting. Best kept in the form of tabloids containing two and a
half grains of each. One to four tabloids is the dose.
10. _Calomel._—Infinitely and beyond all comparison the most valuable
of all drugs that act on the stomach, the liver, or the bowels. Used
chiefly for dyspepsia, especially “liver attacks.” It is best kept in
tabloids containing one grain each. Dose, one to two tabloids.
11. _Phenacetin and Caffeine._—Best kept in the form of tabloids
containing four grains of phenacetin to one of caffeine, or three
grains of each. Dose, one tabloid for headaches.
12. _Pill of Aloes and Nux Vomica._—Of the following formula: aloin,
one and a half grains, extract of nux vomica, quarter of a grain. An
excellent aperient for chronic cases.
Besides these always have in the house the following drugs:—
_Mustard._—As an emetic, one tablespoonful in a tumbler of tepid water.
It is also useful for making mustard plasters.
_Epsom Salts_ and _Seidlitz Powders_ and _Alum_ which is very useful as
a gargle for sore throats. The gargle may be made of the strength of
two in a hundred.
We have described our medicine chest for emergencies. No one can say
that it is elaborate or costly. Yet we know you are disappointed with
it. You wanted something more pretentious. But if you follow our
instructions and use the various items as we have directed, you will
soon find that you have got all that is absolutely necessary for the
treatment of emergencies—that is, as far as you yourself can treat them
in the absence of a doctor.
Before we leave you we wish to make one request. That is: If you
follow our advice and fit up your box as we have directed, you will
add nothing else thereto. No, nothing whatever—not even to fill up an
awkward corner.
VARIETIES.
ALL WILL COME RIGHT.
Things can never go badly wrong
If the heart be true and the love be strong,
For the mist, if it comes, and the weeping rain
Will be changed by the love into sunshine again.—_George MacDonald._
IN PRAISE OF WORK.—Work drives away depression, whets the appetite
for food, invites sleep, promotes digestion, strengthens the muscles
and sinews, gives free circulation to the blood, stimulates the
intellectual faculties, provides the comforts of life, develops all the
powers which it brings into exercise, transforms stupid ignorance into
brilliant genius, fills the world with works of art and literature, and
develops the resources of nature. Nothing can stand before work.
WELL NAMED.
_Bainbridge_: “I know why they are called fugitive poems.”
_Goldsborough_: “Why?”
_Bainbridge_: “Because the author had to run for his life.”
BE WISE TO-DAY.—“Dear young friends,” says a popular preacher of the
present day, “begin right. You will never find it so easy to make
any decisive step as just now. You will get less and less flexible
as you grow older. You will get set in your ways. Habits will twine
their tendrils round you and hinder your free movement. The truths of
the Gospel will become commonplace by familiarity. Associations and
companions will get more and more powerful, and you will stiffen as a
tree trunk becomes stiffened with the growth of years. Be wise to-day.”
PRINTERS’ ERRORS.
In the early half of the present century it was announced in a London
newspaper that “Sir Robert Peel, with a party of _fiends_, was shooting
peasants in Ireland,” whereas the Minister and his friends were only
indulging in the comparatively harmless amusement of pheasant-shooting.
Shortly after the battle of Inkerman one of the morning papers informed
its readers that “after a desperate struggle the enemy was repulsed
with great _laughter_.” The omission of a single letter has rarely
perhaps played more havoc with a subject which was certainly no
laughing matter.
NO MORE FAULT-FINDING.—The business of fault-finding would soon come to
an end if every fault-finder could be only introduced to herself.
* * * * *
[Illustration: “THE GUIDING LIGHT.”
(_From the painting by Marcella Walker._)]
* * * * *
“THE SONG THE RAINDROPS SING.”
BY AUGUSTA BRYERS.
I stood within my garden,
While fell the gentle rain
On thirsty leaf and blossom,
To bid them smile again.
But my heart mourn’d sore the sunbeams
And all the joys they bring,
Till I heard, like sweet bells chiming,
The song the raindrops sing.
They told of fading flow’rets,
Of little leaves that die,
While the lark soars on unceasing,
And the sunlight floods the sky.
And they said, “We are not teardrops,
But tend’rest show’rs of love,
To cheer the heart that’s weary,
And lift sad eyes above.”
And I thought, as fell the raindrops
On fainting buds and leaves,
So may sweet words and hopeful
Wake for the heart that grieves.
That to the world’s great garden
Each may his harvest bring,
Thro’ the sunshine or the storm-cloud,
Or the song the raindrops sing.
[Illustration]
THE HOUSE WITH THE VERANDAH.
BY ISABELLA FYVIE MAYO, Author of “Other People’s Stairs,” “Her Object
in Life,” etc.