the brain. It is a mass of nerve fibres, and from it branch off in
pairs, all the way down from the brain, the great nerves which move the
limbs and muscles of the body, and receive the impressions of sensation
for conveyance to the brain. It is permeated by numerous blood vessels,
which supply what is needed for the upkeep of the whole mass. When
these relax, and become overfilled with blood, we have congestion of
the spinal cord. This may often be easily remedied by cold cloths
applied over the spine, with fomentations to the feet if necessary
(_see_ Children's Healthy Growth; Fall; Paralysis; St. Vitus' Dance).
If, on the other hand, the vessels are contracted, or the blood supply
defective, we have great languor and coldness. This usually may be
remedied by rubbing over the spine with hot olive oil. Violent heat, or
blistering, simply destroys the skin, and hinders healthy action.
Gentle heat, or gentle cooling, long continued, is the best treatment.
Especially is this true in the case of little children (_see_
Children's Healthy Growth). For treatment of the nervous system,
peculiar attention should always be paid to the point where all the
spinal nerves enter and issue from the brain. This is at the hollow
usually present at the base of the back of the skull, where it is
jointed on to the spinal bones. Rubbing here is most powerful, either
with acetic acid or olive oil, and hot or cold cloths should always be
well pressed into the hollow, when applied to the head or upper spine.
(_See_ Diagram, page 234).
Failures of muscular power are caused by failure in the spinal cord. If
a child cannot walk, but only trails his legs, or if he cannot hold his
head erect, skilful rubbing with hot oil on the spine will often quite
cure the defects. Do not rub too hard. Feel for the muscles around the
spine, and gently insinuate healing influence with your fingers, so as
to reach the nerves below. Use a moderate quantity of oil, and the
effects will be marvellous.
Nerves, Troubled.--Often a state of the nerves exists, without any
apparent unhealthiness, which makes the whole system so sensitive, that
ordinary sights, sounds, and smells become unbearable, and the patient
feels the ordinary round of experience, which would never be noticed
otherwise, an intolerable burden. Strange feelings all over the body,
and an indescribable series of seemingly "fanciful" troubles, come on.
It is of no use, and indeed injurious, to treat such cases as merely
fanciful. The wrong bodily condition must be righted if the mental
condition is to improve. The first thing needed is _quiet_. Quietness
rests the overstrained nervous system very much. Nerve-benumbing drugs
are most hurtful (_see_ Narcotics). Let the light in the room be
subdued, and strong smells avoided. To rest the skin nerves, wear only
Kneipp linen underclothing, and flannels _above_ this if required.
Bathe the tongue and palate by taking mildly warm water into the mouth
and ejecting it again. Soap the head, and all over the body, if it can
be done without chilling, three times a week. (_See_ Head, Soaping;
Lather, etc.).
Nervous Attacks.--What we call, for want of a better name, "nerve
force," or "nerve action," is at any one time a definite quantity. In
health it is distributed to all the sets of nerves equally, so that all
work in harmony. But if its distribution be altered in certain ways, we
find "fits" or "attacks" coming on. Action is greatly exaggerated in
one part, and as greatly lessened in another--hence violent movements
and complete unconsciousness co-exist. Children often have such fits.
Where they arise from _indigestion_ as a result of bad food, the cure
is found in teaspoonfuls of hot water, and a hot sitz-bath coming up
over the bowels. Where bad blood causes the fits, poultices over the
kidneys will usually help greatly. (For fits of teething children,
_see_ Teething.) _See also_ Epilepsy.
Nervousness.--This frequent and distressing trouble is to be traced to
a state of the nervous system in which sensibility has got the upper
hand, and self-control is partly lost. It is difficult accurately and
briefly to describe, but is an easily recognisable state. Firstly,
then, we say this is a physical trouble, and the patient must not be
blamed for it, but encouraged kindly to make every effort of _will_ to
throw it off. A strong will can be cultivated, just as a strong arm, by
_exercise_. Peaceful thoughts and Christian faith can also be
cultivated, and anxious and disturbing ideas put down. Uniform, steady
conduct on the part of all around is an enormous help to the nervous.
For physical remedies, use no alcoholic drinks. These give temporary
relief, but are fatal in their after effects. To cure nervousness is
impossible unless these are given up. The physical treatment necessary
will be found under Nerves, Shaken, and Nerves, Troubled.
Nervous Prostration.--Persons suffering from nervous prostration have
probably allowed the urgency of seeming duty to drive them on in work
till the vital energies have been fairly exhausted. At last they are
completely broken down, and the very fountains of life are dried up.
The brain itself has become incapable of giving sleep, or sound
thought. But there is no need for despondency: this trouble is
perfectly curable, only the right means must be employed.
In every case of real "nervous prostration," our question must be--How
shall we enable this vital element to recreate itself? The answer is,
with heat. Here we may detail the process which we know to be
successful. Dip a four-ply cotton cloth in cayenne lotion, and lightly
wring out. Lay this gently over the stomach and bowels, and over this
an india-rubber bag full of hot water. All must be only hot enough to
be comfortable. This application may remain on for two hours without
any change, then it is repeated. Where no bag can be had, a good thick
fomentation should be used instead. _See_ Nerves, Shaken; Nerves,
Troubled, and all articles on nervous trouble.
Much depends on consideration of the individual case, and careful
thought and strong sense are needed on the part of all dealing with
such cases. (_See_ Changing Treatment.)
Dessertspoonfuls of light food should be given every half-hour, and
increased in quantity as the patient can bear it. Avoid alcohol and all
narcotics.
Nettle Rash.--This is an eruption on the skin, often coming suddenly
and going off again, but sometimes of long standing. It resembles in
appearance the sting of a nettle--hence the name. It is accompanied by
an intolerable itching, and is a very sore trouble where it continues,
or frequently recurs. Its cause is usually defective digestion. We
should not depend on drugs for a cure, but treat first the whole spinal
system. Rub the whole back smartly with vinegar. Wipe this off, and rub
again with gentle pressure and warm olive oil. Put on the soapy cloth
(_see_ Soap) with the lather very finely wrought (_see_ Lather), and
free from excess of moisture. Over this lathered cloth put a good
blanket Fomentation (_see_), changing it once or twice, so as to keep
up the heat for half-an-hour. When all this is taken off, we should rub
again with vinegar and oil, as at first. If the case is a sudden
attack, we may soak the worst parts of the eruption with weak vinegar;
but if a chronic one, the rash is better left untouched. The treatment
to the spine may be continued daily. If the rash has been irritated
into running, scabby scores by scratching, it may be cleaned with weak
vinegar. A little cream of tartar or powdered rhubarb and carbonate of
soda mixed in equal parts may be taken internally after meals--say
about one-fourth of a teaspoonful in a little water. If this quantity
exercise too great a cooling effect, smaller doses will produce very
good results. Kneipp Linen Underwear will in many cases of such skin
trouble give great relief.
Neuralgia.--This is severe pain in one part or other of the body,
sometimes followed by swelling of the painful part, but frequently
without much sign of anything wrong at that point. It is, as the name
implies, a trouble affecting the _nerves_ which are connected with the
painful part, and usually there is nothing whatever wrong where the
pain is felt. Where, however, violent pain in the head or jaws results
from chill, there is an altogether different trouble, though it is
often called by the same name.
We have seen a man who had been in agony all night with pain all over
his head. We took a large piece of flannel, about the size of a small
blanket, rolled it up so as to get about a quart of boiling water
poured into the heart of the roll. We kneaded the whole for a little
time, to have the heat and moisture well diffused through the flannel.
We now placed a large towel fourfold on the pillow under the patient's
head, so that it could be brought as a good covering over the hot
blanket when that was on. We opened up the blanket steaming hot and
laid the head in the heart of it, bringing it carefully up all round,
then brought the large towel over all, and tucked him tidily in about
the shoulders. In less than two minutes he exclaimed, "I'm in
Paradise!" The pain was all gone, and in its place was a positive
sensation of delight. There was nothing here but a chilled skull to
deal with, and as soon as it felt the heat and relaxed, the man was
perfectly relieved. Then came the question as to how what had been got
was to be secured, so that he might continue well. After he lay about
three-quarters of an hour in this hot fomentation of the head, we took
it off, and rubbed gently some warm olive oil into the roots of the
hair, and all around the head and neck. We then gave all a good dry
rubbing with a hard towel, and covered up his head carefully, and kept
it covered for a day or two. He required no more treatment of any kind.
But when this treatment increases the pain, or fails altogether to
remove it, we have a trouble which calls for the _very opposite
treatment_. Then we have true neuralgia, which may be in any part of
the body, and which is relieved by cooling the roots of the nerves
which supply that part. For the face and jaws, cold must be applied to
the back of the head, neck, or brain generally. For pains in arms, cold
is to be applied to the upper, and for pain in legs to the lower part
of the spine; for pain in the body, cool the whole length of the spine.
The cooling is done by cloths moistened in cold water and well wrung
out, pressed on gently over the part, and renewed as they grow warm. If
the patient feels chilly, foment or bathe the feet and legs up to the
knees during the process of cooling. This may require to be done for an
hour. Finish by rubbing the parts cooled with hot vinegar and olive
oil, and wiping off.
Even young people are exposed to a great deal of suffering from this
source, and we feel sure that every one of these may be at once
relieved and cured by the vigorous use of the cold compress. When the
patient is warm in bed, the cold compress is one of the most delightful
of applications; and the warm olive oil, to keep what has been got,
make up a real blessing for the sufferer.
We have seen cases in which the cold compress has been applied up and
down the spine, but not with that full effect which could be desired.
Somehow it has not power enough in the hands applying it to reach the
roots of the evil. The want in such a case is generally of a person
sufficiently skilful in the use of the cold towel. There is a way of
pressing it gently over all the parts under which the affected nerves
lie, which secures the cooling of those roots very effectually. But
such skill is not always at hand when needed. Well, mustard is spread
over the surface of the cold towel, and the compress, thus increased in
power, is placed all along the centre of the back. We find that very
soon the pain begins to moderate, and ere long it has ceased. If it has
to be applied more than once, cayenne is greatly to be preferred. The
pepper does not hurt the skin, the mustard very soon does. A cold damp
towel, folded at least four-ply, and placed properly, after being
sprinkled well with cayenne, has an excellent effect.
In wild toothache, or bad nerve pain in the head, massage all over the
head for a considerable time will often cure. We know cases in which
agonising pain was thus removed years ago, and it has never returned.
There was first rubbing, in a gentle soothing way, over the whole head.
At a certain point, that began to lose its soothing influence. The cold
towel was then wrapped round the head, and gently pressed. As soon as
it warmed it was changed. This was done for perhaps three or four
minutes, and the rubbing repeated. The whole was kept up for about an
hour. All pain and uneasiness were then gone, and there was no return
of either.
It will be seen that it is essential properly to distinguish between
the pain requiring heat and that requiring cold for treatment. In any
case it is safe first to try the heat. Failing relief with this, the
cold may be tried. Sometimes the cooling of the head and spine succeeds
in driving off several attacks, but eventually fails to relieve. If in
such a case the cold is applied over the stomach, there is frequently
almost instant relief. Where the attacks can be traced to indigestion,
or come on always a certain time after a meal, this is the proper
method from the first. Where a decayed tooth is the cause of pain, of
course go to the dentist.
Night Coughs.--These frequently remain as the so-called dregs of some
illness, and are found very persistent. They are also frequently very
alarming, as they are thought to indicate some trouble in the lungs,
and as immediate steps should be taken to check this, it is well to
consult a good doctor. But, though coughing at night does of course
accompany lung disease, it is by no means a chief symptom. Also, it is
evident that the treatment applicable to bronchitis and other chest
inflammations will often fail to relieve a night cough, because the
night cough in question is due to nervous irritation or indigestion.
Narcotics are useless and hurtful. Great relief is frequently found
from inhaling the smoke of burning nitre or saltpetre. Blotting paper
may be soaked in a solution of saltpetre, dried and lighted. Place the
burning substance near enough the patient for him to inhale the smoke,
but not so near as to interfere with _easy_ breathing, especially in
cases where there is great weakness.
When patients are fairly strong the back should be rubbed with warm
olive oil for ten minutes or so in the morning before getting out of
bed. Then apply a cold towel, well wrung out, folded lengthwise along
the spine, and over it a dry one. Let the patient lie on this, and
renew it when heated, continuing altogether for fifteen minutes or so.
Give another fifteen minutes' rubbing with the hot oil before dressing.
If the patient feels chilly during the cooling, foment the feet and
legs at the same time.
Nightmare.--In serious cases of this trouble, the patient awakes some
time before he gains any power whatever to move, feeling held as in a
vice. But in common instances, the attack is entirely during sleep, and
accompanied by frightful dreams. A heavily-loaded stomach, pressing on
the solar plexus of the nerves, is a very common cause. The burdened
nerves partially cease action, and this gives rise to the trouble.
Anything similarly affecting these organic nerves will cause it also;
but if the stomach be at fault, reduce the food and let the last meal
be light and not later than six o'clock. This followed by a cup of hot
water, before going to bed, will work a perfect cure. When it is feared
there may be an attack, _lying on the face_ in bed will often prevent
it, even if the patient so lies for a very short time, and then turns
on the side again.
When students, or school children, are over-driven (_see_ Children,
various articles), nightmare, very persistent, is one of the symptoms.
In such cases, there is _urgent need_ of rest, or most serious
consequences may follow. Treat as recommended in Depression, and if any
nervous troubles show themselves, treat as in various articles on nerve
affections. Bad dreams, especially with children, are a sure sign of
something wrong with the health, and should always lead to
investigation, that their cause may be found and removed.
Night Pains.--If these are of the nature of _cramps_, which come on
while lying in bed, the treatment is similar to that given above as
morning treatment for Night Coughs, only the cooling must be continued
for three-quarters of an hour or longer, fomenting the legs if any
chilliness is felt. Cold towels may also be wrung out before going to
bed, and put within reach. These may be applied when the cramps come
on. They will usually relieve speedily.
Spasmodic asthma may be relieved by the same treatment. It often comes
on when lying down, and cold towels applied as above directed will
generally relieve. Fomentations must be given to the feet and legs, if
any feeling of chill is felt.
Where there is _difficulty in breathing_ on lying down, usually the
heart is at fault. Sometimes the heart is all right, and this hard
breathing is nervous, caused by too sudden lying down. To lie down,
propped up with pillows, which may be removed one by one, is often
sufficient to cure it. The treatment in the morning as in Night Coughs
will also greatly help.
Another set of night troubles are such as arise from unwise use of
foods or drinks before going to bed. Tea taken at or near bedtime will
often cause sleeplessness, and will be apt also to give spasmodic
asthma; so will all indigestible foods. These overpower weary organs
that need rest and sleep, and not food. Most people will do well to
take their last meal four hours before retiring. Taking supper is a
habit, and in many cases a very bad one.
Night Sweats.--This distressing symptom, which accompanies various
illnesses, can in most cases be easily cured. The whole skin is to be
sponged over at bedtime with CAYENNE LOTION (_see_). This is best done
under the bed-clothes. Acetic acid, the effective essence in vinegar,
has an astonishing power in healing and stimulating the skin. When it
is assisted by cayenne its healing power is very great indeed. The
nerves are stimulated, the too open pores closed, the skin cleansed,
and the whole system invigorated by such a mixture, and as a result the
night sweats disappear. Even where the case is hopeless, much suffering
may be prevented by the use of this mixture. In conjunction with other
treatment, its use may even turn the scale towards recovery.
Noise and Disease.--Perhaps nothing shows more the lack of human
feeling in many people than the manner in which they inflict sore
distress on the sick and dying by means of noise. Moreover, recovery is
retarded, and has sometimes been wholly prevented, by nothing but a
_noise_. It must be understood that talking, and also singing, which
are delightful to some, become intolerable pain to the delicate and
weak. They really are _worn out_ by them. And the wearing out is
_real_: it is a destruction of nerve substance, when the nerve of the
patient is already too feeble. Shutting doors violently, and the
endless "house noises," must be avoided. Even a long, loud prayer at
the bedside of the sick is utterly out of place. It may become
necessary, in order to prevent such abuses, to exclude from the
sick-room some who will be greatly offended thereby; but courage to
defend a patient against well-meaning intruders is one essential
qualification of a good nurse. Oil doors that _squeak_, fasten windows
that _rattle_, but above all keep quiet the tongues that _clatter_. Let
all whispering in the sick one's hearing be avoided. Speak quietly but
distinctly, so that the patient may not think you are hiding anything
from him. Wrap the coals in pieces of paper, so that they can be put on
the fire by hand, avoiding the noise of shovel or tongs.
No one has a right to do what distresses others, and especially when
they are sick. This principle should guide action. Acting thus will
give untold rest and ease to the troubled.
Nostrils, The.--The disease called Polypus, affecting the mouth or
nostril with growths which are usually removed by force, is one of
those troubles curable by proper use of vinegar or weak acetic acid.
The extraction of the Polypi is painful, and we have ourselves seen
them so completely cured, that it is a pity not to make very widely
known a method of avoiding extraction. A small glass syringe or a
"nasal douche" (rubber is best) should be got, such as may easily be
used for syringing the nostrils, or gums, if the growth be on these.
Syringe the growths well with vinegar or ACETIC ACID (_see_), so
diluted with water as only _very slightly_ to smart when it is applied.
Use this slightly warm, and force it well up the nostril, so that it
goes even back into the throat. This should be done for a considerable
time: not so as to feel painful, but long enough to produce a decided
effect, which remains on ceasing. Dry the nostrils with a little soft
lint or clean rag, and force in a little fine almond oil. Do all this
twice a day for a fortnight at least. In a bad case, a BRAN POULTICE
(_see_) may be applied to the back of the head and neck, coming down
over the spine between the shoulders.
Similar growths on other membranes, if accessible, may be cured by acid
in a similar way.
This treatment is excellent for an ordinary cold in the head.
Nourishment.--Nothing is more required in healing than properly to
_nourish_ the enfeebled body. In its commencement proper nourishment
demands a proper mixture of food and saliva. In fever, if there be
little or no saliva present, food requiring much saliva to fit it for
digestion only injures. This is the case with so-called _rich_ foods,
especially. Excessive thirst usually marks this deficiency of saliva.
Always consider carefully the flow of saliva before feeding a patient
in a weak state. Get the mouth to "water" somewhat before giving food.
We have seen a cold cloth changed several times over the stomach start
the flow of saliva almost miraculously, relieving the thirst, and
prepare for nourishment which could not be taken before.
Going further into the matter, we see that very likely the stomach
requires assistance to dispose of even well-salivated food. There may
be a lack of gastric juice. In this case, frequent and small quantities
of hot water supplied to the stomach will greatly help it. A
wineglassful of hot water taken every ten minutes for two, four, or ten
hours will be sufficient (_see_ Digestion; Indigestion). It is well to
think ten times of the readiness of the system to digest, for once of
the food to be taken. If the stomach be either burning hot or cold and
chilly, let it be cooled or warmed, as the case may be. Either use cold
towels or give hot water as above, as the case demands. When it is
brought into something like a natural state of feeling, you may then
give food. The hot water will often not only prepare the stomach, but
will start the flow of saliva in the mouth, and that even when the
cooling cloth has failed to do so.
A medical man will, at times, forbid water, however thirsty the patient
may be. He is not unlikely to be labouring under a serious mistake. It
may be just the want of water which is causing the very symptoms which
he thinks to cure by withholding it. We never saw anything but
suffering arise from withholding water from the thirsty.
Milk is a prime element in nourishing the weak. Mixed with its own bulk
of boiling water, or even with twice as much, it is immensely more easy
to digest. The simple water is of vast importance, and the milk mixed
with boiling water is quite a different substance for digestion from
the fresh pure milk. It is better to have a teaspoonful of milk and
water really digested than a pint of rich milk overloading the stomach.
Many persons put lime-water into the milk to make it digestible. In
doing so they put a difficulty in the way, in the shape of the lime. If
one tries to wash his hands in "hard" water, he sees how unfit that
water is to do the proper work of water in the blood and tissues of the
body. Now, it is not difficult to meet this evil where the only water
to be had has a great deal of lime in solution. Boiling this water
makes it deposit much of its lime. If a very, very small bit of soda is
mixed with it in the boiling, it lets down its lime more quickly and
completely.
Alcoholic drinks--wine, porter, or ale--are often given as means of
nourishment. They are hurtful in the extreme, as the spirit contained
in them spoils, so far as it acts, both the saliva and the gastric
juice. Rum and milk, sack whey, and other such preparations are equally
bad, and have killed many a patient.
While suitable nourishment is necessary for the sick, great care should
be taken to avoid giving too much. Often the amount of food the patient
requires or can assimilate is _exceedingly small_. Injudicious attempts
to "keep up the strength" by forcing down food that cannot be digested
often destroy the little that remains, and remove the only hope of
cure. (_See_ also Assimilation; Biscuits and Water; Blood; Bread;
Buttermilk; Child-Bearing; Constipation; Diet; Drinks; Dyspepsia;
Foods; Heartburn; Infants' Food.)
Nourishment, Cold in.--If a person is in fever, and is burning with
internal heat, a little bit of ice, sucked in the mouth, gives great
relief. The relief is got in this way: the melted ice, in the form of
water, is little in bulk in proportion to the heat which is absorbed in
melting it. To absorb the same heat by means of merely cold water,
would imply a great amount of water, and an inconvenient filling of the
stomach. The heat used up in melting the small bit of ice is great, and
the amount of water exceedingly small. This gives benefit without
inconvenience; hence, to suck a bit of ice is to be much preferred in
such a case to taking a drink of cold water.
Within proper limits, beyond all question, cold is, in certain cases,
essential to nourishment. For example, in a case of thirst such as we
have noticed, the heat of the stomach extending to the mouth is drying
up all the juices that should go to secure digestion and assimilation.
The saliva is dried up, and the gastric juice equally so. Cold is
applied to the pit of the stomach (not ice, but a moderate degree of
repeated cold), and the result is, these juices begin to flow.
Nourishment is the consequence, and very clearly, in such a case, it is
the consequence of cold. In other words, it is the result of reducing
the excessive internal heat, and leaving something like the proper
degree behind.
The place which cold has in nourishing is, so to speak, negative--that
is, it is useful only in reducing overheating. But when we remember how
a frosty morning sharpens appetites and makes the cheeks glow with
ruddy health, we see that such reduction of overheat is not
infrequently required.
Nourishment, Heat in.--Heat is absorbed in building up the bodily
tissues, and given off when they are disintegrated. To rightly
understand this is of great importance in all treatment. When a living
substance is growing, it demands heat. An illustration of this is the
sun's heat causing what we call "growing weather." Again, where
substances are breaking up, as in burning wood, heat is given out. In
the stomach, a certain amount of heat is needed during digestion. If it
is not given, indigestion ensues. To swallow ice, where the stomach has
already insufficient heat, is then great folly. On the other hand, to
take hot water is to do the very thing which gives the stomach what it
needs, and so to relieve the indigestion. Many times, when the stomach
simply stands still from lack of energy, it will move immediately on
getting a glass of hot water to help it. Similarly, a little genial
heat assists other failing organs. As we have shown how cold diminishes
the excessive action of inflammation and fever, so we now point out
that if you can find out what organs are feeble and acting
insufficiently, and stimulate them with gentle heat, you are on the way
to a cure.
Nursing Over.--Few vital processes are more remarkable than that by
which food fitted for adults becomes in the mother's breast food fit
for the little infant. In nursing it is well to remember that all food
is not equally fit to be so changed. Well-boiled porridge, of either
oat or wheaten meal, is probably as good as can be got. Malt liquor,
though causing a large flow of milk, most seriously deteriorates its
quality, and should be entirely avoided. But in this article we think
chiefly of the mother, and of the necessary drain of blood and vital
force which she bears in nursing. In most cases this drain is easily
borne, in others the child is fed at the mother's expense. The supply
of power, in such cases, is not equal to the loss of it in feeding the
child, and the reserve in the mother's body is slowly used up. She
becomes thin and pale, and her nervous system begins to suffer. When
this is the case, either means must be used to increase her vital
power, or nursing must at once be given up. Of course, where she may
have had insufficient or unsuitable food, a change of diet may work a
cure; but, as a rule, the drain of nursing will have to be stopped. To
help her restoration, whether she ceases to nurse or not, use the
following mixture and treatment: Boil a stick of best liquorice for
half-an-hour in a quart of good soft water. Add one quarter of an ounce
of camomile flowers, and boil for another half-hour. Keep the water up
to the quantity by adding _boiling_ water as required. Strain the
mixture, and give a dessertspoonful thrice a day before meals. If the
dessertspoonful be found too much, a teaspoonful may be taken. The
patient, if any heart trouble is felt, should go to bed early, and have
the feet and legs fomented, and cold cloths pressed over the heart.
This may be done for three or four nights. After this, each night for a
fortnight the back should be well washed with SOAP (_see_) and hot
water, and rubbed with vinegar and hot olive oil. Let each be dried off
before the other is applied.
Oil, Olive.--A little oil only should be applied to the skin at once.
Any such _smearing_ as dirties the clothes or bedclothes is quite
unnecessary.
Since the first edition of these papers was published, the use of oil
in the "massage" treatment has become so widely known that methods of
rubbing are better understood, and its results more appreciated. Hence
it is now easier to procure pure oil, and our readers should be able to
get it cheaply at any first-class grocer's.
Opium.--_See_ Narcotics.
Oranges.--Some things regarding this useful fruit require to be noted
by those using them in sickness. To eat the whole substance of an
orange except the outer rind is to give the digestive system some hard
work. We have known most serious stomach disturbance caused to the
healthy by doing so. Some parts of the inner rind and partitions of the
fruit act almost like poison. These should always be rejected. The
juice is most beneficial. It is best given to patients by squeezing the
orange into a glass, and _straining_ it through muslin into another
glass. Add its own bulk of water and a teaspoonful of sugar, if liked.
This may be taken warm or cold, and will do where even milk and water
cannot be taken. (_See_ Drinks).
"Outstrikes."--These appear on the skin from various causes. In the
case of infants, they often appear on the head and face during
teething.
An experienced medical man is cautious in the extreme of quickly
healing the distressed skin. He is afraid of "driving in" the eruption
on the brain. Perhaps he refuses to do anything whatever to heal the
head. From what we have seen, however, even in the worst cases, when
head and face and neck were one great sore, we feel assured that there
is no need why this distress should be continued at all. It may be, at
least in many cases, safely and not very slowly healed.
The _whole_ skin of the infant must be brought into vigorous and
healthy action. The head at first need not be touched; but the entire
skin not affected should be sponged with warm vinegar, and then dried,
rubbed with warm olive oil, and this wiped off carefully and gently, so
far as it does not adhere to the skin under the soft dry towel. Quite
enough remains to do all the good required; and if more is left on, a
chilliness and nastiness are felt, which prejudice many against the use
of it altogether.
It is well, in many cases, not to touch the child with _water_ or
_soap_. The vinegar and oil cleanse the skin and do all that is
required. Then vinegar very much diluted should be used warm to apply
with a soft rag to the sores. Take a teaspoonful of vinegar in a
breakfastcupful of warm water. If this causes the child to cry when
applied, then dilute still further. Vinegar weak enough to cause hardly
any feeling when it touches the sore, will _heal_; stronger vinegar
will _injure_.
We have known a nurse try to heal an outstricken face by means of good
vinegar at its full strength. She was instructed to use the vinegar
very much diluted, but fancied it would heal faster if much stronger.
She might just as well have fancied that it is better to put one's cold
hands into the fire than to hold them at some distance when wishing to
warm them. The child's face was made greatly worse, of course, and the
cure abandoned. It is therefore necessary to urge that a strength of
acid which secures only the most gentle sensation of smarting is
essential to cure. The weak vinegar is first applied to the outer and
less fiery parts of the outstrike. Try to heal from this inwards, by
gradual advances from day to day. On the less affected parts the weak
acid may be applied twice a day; on the sorer parts only when itching
is so distressing as to demand it.
We have seen a child whose head, face, and neck were one distressing
sore; we have taken the cloth with the diluted vinegar and daubed a
square inch or so of the skin on which the fiery eruption was so full,
and in less than two minutes we have seen the colour change into a
healthy pink, and remain that colour when the olive oil was applied.
The child's sores yielded gradually, till the whole illness was
removed.
Sometimes such eruptions, in adults as well as children, arise from
suppressed perspiration, or from the perspiration being of an acrid and
irritating nature. It is sometimes apparently the result of the rubbing
off of a little of the skin, or it comes on without any known accident.
For a time it seems scarcely worth noticing, and is consequently
neglected; but gradually it spreads on the surface and gives
uneasiness, especially after the patient has been some time in bed. It
goes on till a large portion of the skin from the knee to the ankle is
reddened and roughened with a moist eruption. Now remedies of various
kinds are tried, but the evil gets worse and worse. The person affected
is often a struggling mother or widow, who has to keep on her feet all
day in anxious toil, and neither gets very good food during the day nor
proper rest during the night. Month after month goes past, and no
relief comes. The positive agony which such persons suffer is
incredible to those who have not experienced anything of the kind.
Here the great difficulty often is to get the patient the very chief
condition for cure--that is, perfect rest for the affected limb. If
this can in any way be secured, all else is comparatively plain
sailing. But this is sometimes impossible: the children may not be in a
position to be left, or the little business cannot be allowed to die,
as it would in a month's time if not attended to, or some other
hindrance is in the way. We must just do the best in the circumstances.
We shall say that we are compelled to do without the rest, probably
also without certain other things. Rest is very desirable, and so is a
gentle rubbing all over the body, first with warm vinegar and then with
olive oil, but there is perhaps no one capable of doing such a thing
whose services can be secured. It is easy to "order" very useful
processes, but among many who would not be exactly called "poor people"
it is not easy to have the "order" carried out. We must often do
without this double rubbing, and yet cure the diseased skin of the
afflicted limb. Let the reader remember that it is no matter of choice
that we dispense with the rest and the rubbing. If they are possible,
by all means let them be taken advantage of to the utmost.
For treatment, unless distinct running sores are formed, bathe the limb
with warm water and M'Clinton's Soap, which will remove all crusts,
scabs, &c. Then apply zinc ointment. Do not bathe or poultice after the
first time. All secretion can be removed by a piece of cotton wool
dipped in warm olive oil. If deep running sores have formed, then we
must have a water-tight box of rough deal in which the whole leg up to
the knee can be bathed for an hour in hot water. We see no reason why
it should cost much over a shilling to get this, and it would be a sore
want if it could not be procured. It is so made that the leg and foot
can rest easily in it while it is nearly full of hot water. It need not
be wider than just to hold the limb easily. Some good-hearted joiner
will put five small boards together so as to meet this want. We shall
suppose that it is supplied. Now for a few cloths, such as will cover
the diseased parts, about three-ply all round. Then for vinegar or
acetic acid, so diluted with water that it will just cause a slight
smarting when heated and touching the affected skin. It must not be so
strong as to cause burning, nor so weak as to give no sense of its
presence at all, but between these extremes. It can be tried when too
weak, and vinegar or other acetic acid added till a gentle smarting is
felt. The cloths are dipped in the diluted and heated vinegar, allowed
to drip till no more falls off, and then laid tenderly all round the
sore. A strip of dry cloth may then be wound round so as to keep these
on, and the leg thus dressed placed in the bath. It should be kept
there, with now and again a gentle movement, and the strong comfortable
heat of the water kept up for an hour, unless the patient should feel
sickness before that time. If this comes on, the water is too hot; but,
instead of merely cooling it, the bath may cease for the time, and
water not so hot may be tried on a second occasion. Whether the hour
has been reached or not, good has been done. The leg is taken out of
the hot water and gently dried--not rubbed, but dried without rubbing.
Then as much cloth as will go twice round all is dipped in warm olive
oil, and this is pressed out a little, so that it may not run. The
oiled cloth is wrapped all round the limb. Some dry cloth is also
wrapped round, and the first treatment is completed. This should be
repeated every night before going to bed, for a week at least. It may
be required for a fortnight if the case is bad and no rest at all can
be had during the day. We should say the cure may fail for want of this
rest, but this is not likely. In the morning as soon as convenient, the
diseased skin should be soaked with a warm vinegar cloth, so that it
shall smart just a little. It should then be dressed again with the
warm olive oil. If at any time during the day or night it gets
irritated and troublesome, this morning dressing may be repeated. It
will not be very long before the one leg is as good as the other. The
general health, too, of the patient will be sensibly improved.
It is scarcely necessary to point out that a similar treatment to this
will cure "outstrikings" of the same sort in the arms and other parts
of the body, as well as upon the legs. There is required only some such
modification of the appliances as may meet the particular case. For
example, we have seen the outstriking between the shoulders, so that it
could not be reached by bathing, unless by appliances utterly out of
the question in the circumstances. But dressing with hot vinegar
cloths, allowing these to remain on for twenty minutes or so, and then
dressing with warm olive oil, allowing this to remain for two or three
hours, is quite possible to any one who is so affected; and this will
usually be sufficient for a cure.
You have, perhaps, been cured temporarily more than once with arsenic,
and the evil has returned worse and worse. In that case you may require
all the more patience and the longer application of the above
treatment; but, once cured in this way, you will not, so far as a good
long experience enables us to judge, be likely to have any relapse. In
very bad cases we have seen poultices of mashed potatoes made with
buttermilk cleanse the diseased parts most effectually, and then the
acid takes healing effect very speedily. In these cases ordinary
medical treatment had utterly and hopelessly failed.
Pain, Severe, in Limbs.--This is often not due to any trouble in the
joint itself, but to some disorder in the large nerves which have their
roots in the lower part of the back. In the case of severe pains in the
back of the leg, ankle, or knee, when a chill to the large limb nerves
has been the cause, and has raised inflammation, the patient should be
put warm in bed. Take two large towels, thoroughly wrung out of cold
water. Fold one six or eight ply thick. Gently press this, avoiding
cold shock to the patient, over the lower part of the back. When this
towel gets hot, spread it out to cool, and apply the other. Continue
this with each towel alternately, and when finished, or after an hour,
rub the skin with warm olive oil and cover up with new flannel. Similar
cold applications to the _upper_ part of the spine will cure such pains
in the wrists. If the cold application intensifies or fails to relieve
the pain, it is well to try the ARMCHAIR FOMENTATION (_see_).
Sometimes light pressure in the form of squeezing the muscles of the
lower back is very useful. A very gentle pressure on the right parts is
most pleasant to the sufferer. At first it simply relieves in some
degree the weary feeling of the limbs. When it is at all well done, it
soon raises a gentle heat, which slowly passes down the limbs, even to
the very toes. This is just life itself communicated to the limb. But
we must not confine our treatment to the spinal cord. The squeezing, or
gentle pressure, must be carried down the limb; and when new life has
been infused so far, it will be well to apply the pressure between the
hands to the swollen and painful part. _See_ Massage.
Palpitation.--Ordinarily we are not aware of the beating of the heart,
enormous as is the work it does; but in certain cases this beating
becomes distressingly violent, especially on lying down flat or in
ascending hills or stairs. The latter cases are the more serious, yet
both kinds we have found quite curable. In treatment, fomentation must
be avoided, and so must doses of the nerve-damaging drug, digitalis.
The best way is to _cool the heart_, and thus relieve its superabundant
action. But care must be taken that _cold be not applied to a feeble
heart_, but only where action is evidently superabundant. It is usually
easy to distinguish the two kinds of palpitation. The cooling can be
done by pressing towels wrung out of cold water all over the heart
region of the left side. Then rub the part so cooled with olive oil,
dry off, and let the patient rest. This may be done in the morning
before rising. In cases where the heart is feeble, the following
treatment should be carried out instead of the cold towels:--Begin at
bedtime with a cloth covered with creamy soap lather, and placed quite
warm all over the body of the patient. It should be fastened on with
the body of a dress, or thin vest, so that it may be kept close to the
skin during the night. In the morning the back should be gently washed
with hot vinegar, dried, and gently rubbed with warm olive oil. In
those cases where the palpitation is only part of a general
nervousness, which causes great distress and sleeplessness at night,
the back should be lathered all over with soap (_see_ Lather and Soap)
at bedtime, and the cloth with lather left on all night. In the
morning, dry off, rub gently with hot vinegar, and then with hot olive
oil. If the palpitation resists this treatment, then cold towels should
be gently pressed to the _spine_, until the whole system is quieted.
The back should then be rubbed with warm olive oil. So far as this
restless action is concerned, this is all that is required for complete
cure. We are writing thus in view of cases declared hopeless, but the
patients are now in perfect health. We remember one at this moment in
which the heart's action was so bad that the head could not be raised
from the pillow, but the person was in a few weeks as well as any one
could wish to be.
No one who has not seen how readily the surplus vital action passes out
of the system when simple cold is rightly applied, can imagine how
easily such cases are cured. It seems to us absurd to speak of "heart
disease" in many of the cases in which people talk of it and set the
case down as hopeless. It is absurd, simply because it is not heart
disease, but only a little more action than is comfortable, and which
is reduced in a few minutes by a cold towel. No doubt care and
willingness to work a little are required, if one would relieve a
sufferer in such a case as this, but that care and energy are sure to
have the best of all rewards.
Palpitation often arises from indigestion, in which case _see_
Indigestion.
Palsy.--_See_ Paralysis.
Paralysis.--This serious trouble in slighter forms affects one side of
the face, or even one eye only. More serious attacks involve the arm,
and even an entire half of the body. It may come suddenly, or may creep
slowly over the frame. In very old persons the case is usually
hopeless, as life itself is fading. In earlier life, and in less
serious cases, a cure is to be expected from proper treatment. Cupping,
blistering, or opiates must be avoided, as all tending to reduce vital
energy. Treatment must aim at increasing this, not reducing it. Take
first the case of paralysis slightly affecting the face. When the
patient is warm in bed, place a BRAN POULTICE (_see_) not too hot, on
the back of the head and neck. Let the patient lie on it, first rubbing
the neck and back of head with olive oil. Do this for an hour each day.
At another time wash the back of head and neck with SOAP (_see_) and
water, then with vinegar, and finally rub with hot olive oil. Keep the
parts warm with good flannel always.
If the whole side be affected, foment strongly the whole spine, and
treat it in a similar way to the back of the head, as prescribed above.
We have known cases of comparatively speedy cure by this simple means.
The heat simply vitalises the partially dead nerves. For paralysis of
the lower limbs, the treatment is applied to the lower part of the
spine principally, but also to the whole spinal system. There is no
fear of injuring the patient in this treatment, and we know of many
cases of most delightful cure secured by it. What is called the
ARMCHAIR FOMENTATION (_see_) is an excellent method of dealing with
paralysis of the lower limbs or any part of them, and may be resorted
to if the above treatment fails. Care must be taken in any case to
avoid a chill after fomenting, which might make matters worse than at
first.
Perspiration.--By this term we mean not only the sensible perspiration
which is felt as a distinct wetness on the skin during exertion or
heat, or in some illnesses, but also, and chiefly, the constant
insensible perspiration. This latter is far more important than the
former. No one could live many hours without it, for by its means
several pounds weight of waste is got rid of every day. Its importance
we saw lately in the case of a child greatly swollen in dropsy. A
flannel BANDAGE (_see_) wrung out of warm water, placed round the body,
reduced this swelling completely, without any _sensible_ sign of
excretion. A very gentle treatment, increasing this insensible
sweating, will often cure without weakening, where violent perspiring
medicines or treatment cause great weakness. A damp flannel bandage
placed round the lower half of the body all night for a few nights will
produce a remarkable increase of insensible perspiration, and in many
case forms a good substitute for sweating drugs. Along with this the
soapy lather may be used at bedtime all over the skin (_see_ Lather and
Soap). We have seen a swelling of the hand, which made a medical man
talk of amputation, cured by these means. Acetic acid, or white-wine
vinegar, rubbed over the skin, produces a similar increase of
insensible perspiration, and may be used without fear of injury. This
done once a week will go far to reduce sensitiveness to cold. Indeed,
the use of M'Clinton's soap and water, along with good acetic acid
sponging once a week, will prevent many serious ills by securing a
constant gentle excretion of hurtful waste through the stimulated skin.
Piles.--This very common trouble is caused by one or more of the veins
in the lower bowel losing their elasticity, so as to protrude more or
less from the anus, especially when the stress of a motion of the
bowels forces them out. When no blood proceeds from this swollen vein,
it is sometimes called a _blind_ pile. If blood comes, it is called a
_bleeding_ one.
There are few illnesses more prevalent than this, few that seem to be
less rationally dealt with, and yet few that are more easily cured.
It is distressing to think of what some poor people have to suffer from
this disease, while they are still compelled to go on working, and even
walking, in the most depressing sufferings. It is still more
distressing to think of the painful operations which some have to
undergo in having the relaxed portions of these veins cut out. Even
when the piles have got to a very advanced stage it is not difficult to
cure. It will generally be found that there is Constipation (_see_), so
first of all, the bowels must be regulated. This may be done by means
of liquorice and senna mixture, and strict attention to diet and
exercise. Then the nerve action in the lower back is to be stimulated
by applying to the back below the waist a large BRAN POULTICE (_see_).
Rub the back after this with hot vinegar, dry, rub with olive oil, and
wipe off the oil gently. Do this at bedtime. Into the bowels may be
injected (with the fountain enema) first one or two injections of warm
water; then an injection of warm water and white-wine vinegar. Be
particular to have this mixture not too strong. A trial may be made
with one tablespoonful of vinegar to a pint of water. If any pain is
caused, inject simple lukewarm water and use the vinegar and water next
time weaker. A very weak mixture has a wonderfully healing effect.
After one pint of this mixture has been injected, an injection of cool
water (but not cold) should follow. The vinegar should be so weak that
it will cause no pain, properly speaking,--only just the slightest
sensation of smarting. It will be possible to use the water colder and
the vinegar stronger as you get on with the cure, but in both, your own
feelings and good sense will guide you. This direction will suit other
cases of internal syringing, in which membranes have got relaxed, and
need to be braced with cold and weak acid. In all such troubles it
should be remembered that the warm or tepid water is used at first only
because the cold might be felt uncomfortable till the surfaces are
prepared for it. It is the cold that does the good. After this,
protruding piles may be gently manipulated by the fingers and pushed
back into their place. During this the patient must press outwards, as
if to discharge fæces from the bowel. The anus will then open and
permit of the piles being pressed in. The injecting treatment may be
given twice a day. If too painful, even bathing the parts with the
vinegar and cold water has great healing power.
Let the sufferer, if at all possible, have _entire rest_ for a
fortnight during the treatment, and lie down as much as convenient.
In mild cases, simply bathe the piles with cold water and press them
back into their places. A daily wash of the anus with SOAP (_see_) and
warm water, followed by a cold sponging, will do much to prevent piles.
Pimples on the Face.--_See_ Face.
Pleurisy.--The pleura is the tender double web, or membrane, which
lines the inside of the chest on the one side and covers the lung, or
rather encloses the lung with its other fold. Each of the two lungs has
its pleura in which it works, and each side of the chest is lined by
one side of this sensitive organ. The slender lining passes round the
greater part of one whole side of the body with one-fold, and round the
whole of the lung with the other. Let us suppose (which often takes
place) that the front of the body is defended with what is called a
"chest protector," but the sides and back are exposed to a chilling
atmosphere. Part of the pleura, and that part which is farthest from
the surface, is sheltered, but the greater part of it, and that nearest
the surface, has no such protection. In the case especially of women
this is the state of things. It seems as if people thought that they
only need to keep a few inches of the breast warm--that is keeping the
chest all right--though the sides just under the arms, and the back
under the shoulder-blades, are of far greater importance. The throat is
even muffled, and a "respirator" worn, so that fresh air is not allowed
to get inside the lungs, while the pleura is exposed to chill at the
back. The consequence of this is that vital action is so abstracted
from the pleura that the tension of its small vessels is relaxed, and
blood is admitted as it is not intended it should be.
Severe pain is felt on one or both sides, and round under the
shoulder-blade. A painful cough arises, and great fever is produced. In
such a case the treatment is on the same principle as that given in
Lungs, Inflammation of the, which should be read. The inflamed part
must be cooled by applying towels well wrung out of cold water round
the side, applying a fresh one when that on the part becomes warm. If
the pain does not leave in half-an-hour of this treatment, or if the
patient be weak to begin with, or if any chilliness is felt, pack the
feet and legs in a large hot fomentation. The cooling of the side may
then go on safely until a curative effect is produced. We may not be
able to give the theory of action of this treatment, but we know that
in many cases it has perfectly and very speedily been successful, and
that it leaves no bad results, as blistering and drugging are apt to
do. We know of one case in which it took twenty-four hours' constant
treatment to effect a cure. But it did effect it. Two friends took
"shifts," and saw that all was thoroughly done. This will give an idea
of the proper way to go about the matter.
Poisoning.--The following are the antidotes and remedies for some of
the more common forms of poisoning.
Alcohol.--The patient is quite helpless, and there is usually a strong
smell of alcohol. If the patient is intoxicated at the time give an
emetic. If there is evident prostration from a long bout, keep him
quiet and warm. Hot tea not too strong may be given.
Alkalis (_e.g._, ammonia, soda or potash).--Give dilute vinegar,
followed by white of egg.
Arsenic.--Emetic, followed by white of egg. Keep very warm.
Carbolic.--Readily identified by smell of tar or carbolic. Wash mouth
well with oil. Give an emetic.
Chloral.--Emetic; warm coffee, and even an enema of coffee. Artificial
respiration (_see_ Drowning) may be necessary if breathing gets very
low.
Chloroform or Ether (inhaled).--Fresh air. Pull tongue forward, and
begin artificial respiration. If heart has stopped, strike chest two or
three times over region of heart.
Chloroform or Ether (swallowed).--Emetic; enema of hot coffee; keep
awake. If necessary, artificial respiration.
Copper.--Emetic, white of egg to follow.
Laudanum.--There is intense drowsiness and contraction of pupils of
eye. Give an emetic and plenty of strong coffee. Walk patient up and
down. On no account allow him to give way to the desire for sleep.
Mineral Acids and Glacial Acetic.--If any neutralising agent, such,
_e.g._, as lime, chalk, soda, or calcined magnesia, is at hand, give it
at once. Or give an emetic, followed by oil or milk and water.
Mushrooms.--Emetic; castor oil and enema.
Nicotine (tobacco).--Emetic; stimulate and keep warm; keep patient
lying down.
Oxalic Acid.--Neutralise by chalk or lime water, but not by soda or any
alkali. Give plenty of water; apply hot fomentations to loins.
Phosphorus.--Often caused by children sucking matches. There is a
burning in the throat, and often vomiting. Give an emetic. After this
some barley water or milk may be given.
Prussic Acid.--Almost hopeless. Emetic; artificial respiration.
Snake Bite.--Suck the wound, and apply a drop or two of strong ammonia
to the bite. Ammonia may be also inhaled. Artificial respiration often
necessary.
Strychnine.--Emetic; keep quiet and darken the room. Chloral or bromide
of potassium may be given. If spasms threaten respiration, artificial
respiration is necessary.
Tartar Emetic or other Antimonial Poisons.--If vomiting is not present,
induce it by an emetic. Give doses of strong tea. Keep very warm by hot
blankets.
Good domestic emetics are a teaspoonful of mustard in a tumblerful of
water, or a tablespoonful of salt in the same quantity of water.
Poisoning, Blood.--Where this arises from a more or less putrid wound,
what is aimed at in the treatment is to stop the manufacture of the
poison in the wound by cleansing and healing it. This done, the other
symptoms will subside. The wound should be carefully brushed with a
camel's-hair brush and vinegar or dilute ACETIC ACID (_see_). This
should be followed up with a poultice of boiled potatoes or turnips,
beaten up with the same weak acid. Leave this on all night. Brush again
well with the acid in the morning. In the matter of diet eat what will
produce healthy blood, and by open-air exercise seek the same end. But
the daily brushing and poulticing, or even twice daily if necessary,
will work wonders on the poisoned wound. Care should be taken where any
cut or wound has been made in the flesh, that it is carefully washed,
and any dirt or foreign matter removed. Especially is this to be
attended to if a rusty nail or penknife has inflicted the injury.
Polypus.--_See_ Nostrils.
Potato Poultice.--Potatoes boiled and beaten up with buttermilk, spread
out in the usual way, make this useful poultice. Weak acid or vinegar
may also be used instead of buttermilk. The potatoes should be boiled
as recommended below.
Potato, The.--The proper cooking of this root is so important for
health, owing to its universal use, that we here give directions which,
if followed out, make potatoes a dish acceptable to even a very
delicate stomach. Difficulty of digestion often arises from the
potatoes not ripening properly, especially in cold soil, and since
disease has become so widespread. Their unripe juice is positively
poisonous, and when they are merely boiled is not completely expelled.
The potatoes should be _steeped_ in warm water for an hour before they
are boiled. The water in which they have been steeped will be greenish
with bad juice, and must be thrown away, and the roots boiled in fresh
water as usual, giving a thorough _drying_ after the boiling water is
poured or strained off. So prepared, the potatoes make a very
digestible dish.
Poultice, Bran.--_See_ Bran Poultice.
Prostration, Nervous.--The various articles under Nerves and
Nervousness should be read. Here we give simply the treatment for
failure in the digestion and bowel action. This arises from failure in
the great nerve centres near the middle of the body. External treatment
may be given as follows:--Dip a cotton cloth, four-ply thick, and large
enough to cover the stomach and bowels, into cayenne Lotion (_see_),
and lightly wring it. Lay this gently over the stomach and bowels. Over
this an india-rubber bag of hot water is laid. Take care that the heat
is not _too great_ or the mixture _too strong_. All must be just hot
enough to be comfortable. This application may remain on for two hours,
and then be repeated. The cayenne is greatly to be preferred to mustard
for many reasons. Give the most easily assimilated food possible. A
teaspoonful of gruel each half-hour, increased to a dessertspoonful, if
the digestion will bear it, and preceded in all cases by a
tablespoonful of hot water. This should be continued for twenty-four
hours. Proceed very cautiously then to increase the nourishment, on the
lines of Assimilation, Diet, Digestion, etc., giving oatmeal jelly,
wheaten porridge, Saltcoats biscuits, and such diet, _gradually_
bringing the patient back to ordinary food.
Pulse, Counting the.--Most valuable information as to the nature and
progress of disease is derivable from the pulse. Every one should learn
to count it, and to distinguish the broad differences in the rapidity
and nature of the beat. Such a distinction as that between BRONCHITIS
and ASTHMA (_see these articles_), which require almost directly
opposite treatment, is at once discerned from the pulse. In bronchitis
it beats much too quickly, in asthma it is natural or too slow. In many
cases we have seen asthma, which in cough and spit is very like
bronchitis, treated as bronchitis, with bad results. These would all
have been avoided if the pulse had been intelligently counted. Count
the pulse, if at all possible, for _half-a-minute_. This multiplied by
two will give the rate per minute, by which it is judged. If this rate
per minute be above 100, there is a good deal of feverish or
inflammatory action somewhere. If below 60, there is considerable lack
of vital power, requiring rest and food to restore it.
In adults the rate for males is from 70 to 75 beats per minute, and for
females 75 to 80. In infants the healthy pulse may be at birth 130 to
140 per minute, diminishing with increase of age. In the case of any
child under five and over one year, if the pulse beats, say, 108 in the
minute, it is too fast. The pulse of an adult may go down as low as 60
or even 50 per minute, but there is then something wrong.
Cooling the head is always safe with high pulse and feverishness, and
often this alone will ward off disease and restore the healthy
condition. If the pulse be low, fomentations to the feet should be
applied, along with cooling action elsewhere, if necessary.
Purple Spots on Skin.--These arise first as small swellings. The
swellings fall, and leave purple patches behind, which, if the trouble
continues, become so numerous as to spoil the appearance of the skin.
This especially occurs in children or young people, whose skin is
exceptionally delicate. What has occurred is really much the same as
the result of a blow or pinch, leaving the skin "black and blue." Some
of the delicate vessels in the skin have given way, and dark blood
collects on the spot.
The treatment is to sponge all over the body and limbs with warm
CAYENNE "TEA" (_see_), only strong enough to cause a slight smarting.
It should never cause pain. If it does so, the tea is too strong, and
should be diluted with warm water. The soapy LATHER (_see_) may also be
used, and olive oil may with advantage be rubbed on as well. Milk and
boiling water should be given to the patient every two hours during the
day, with a few drops of the cayenne "tea" in it. This is a true
stimulant, and worth all the whiskey in the world. The object of the
treatment is to nurse the patient's strength, and stimulate the skin.
An intelligent study of many articles in this book will guide the
thoughtful how to act.
Racks from Lifting.--_See_ Muscular Pains; Sprains.
Rash, or Hives.--Infants are often troubled with large red,
angry-looking spots, breaking out over the body, and causing trouble by
their heat and itching. These are commonly known as hives. If the water
in which a child is washed be hard, it will sometimes cause the skin to
inflame and become "hivey." If the soap has much soda in it, it will
also cause this. What is called glycerine soap, and much of what is
sold as peculiarly desirable, is utterly unsuitable for an infant's
skin. Soda soap will cause serious outbreaks even worse than "hives,"
and will often not be suspected at all, as a cause.
Only M'Clinton's soap, which is made from the ash of plants, should be
used on tender skins.
When the "hives" are not very troublesome, they are apt to be
neglected; but this should not be, as in most cases this is the time
they may be easily cured. The true element in cure is found in
attention to the _skin_, as distinct from the stomach or blood.
M'Clinton's soap (_see_ Soap) applied as fine creamy lather will _cure_
hives, and will never, we think, fail to do so. We know of a nurse
plastering an infant's body with this soap, so that it was blistered.
This is a totally wrong way of working. The right way is to work the
soap and hot water as described in article Lather, and to apply it
gently with the brush to the parts affected. After applying it with
gentle rubbing for some time, and leaving some on the sore places, the
infant will usually be soothed to sleep. Where over-cooling is feared,
with a weak child, a little olive oil is gently rubbed on with the
second coat of lather. In any case of itchiness the above treatment is
almost certain to cure. Often the infant is suffering from too rich
diet. (_See_ Children's Food.) In such cases, thinner milk, and a
little fluid magnesia administered internally will effect a cure.
Remedy, Finding a.--It will sometimes occur, in the case of those
endeavouring to cure on our system of treatment, that on applying what
is thought to be the correct remedy, the trouble becomes worse. For
example, where there are violent pains in the legs, a bran poultice is
put on the lower back, and it is rubbed with oil. The pains become
worse instead of better, and perhaps our whole system is abandoned and
condemned. Now, all that is required here is to think and try until we
find the _true_ remedy. If the pain in the legs is rheumatic, the hot
poultice is all right. If it has been cramp, what is needed is a cold
cloth on the lower back, instead of heat. In the example above given,
what is needed is not to abandon the treatment, but to rectify the
mistake, and apply cold instead of heat. In a great many forms of
illness the same principle holds good. It is safer, where there is any
doubt, to try heat first, but not in a very strong manner. If this
gentle heating makes matters worse, gentle cooling may be tried. If the
heat does good, it may be continued and increased, but never beyond the
point of comfort. If the cold does good, it also may be continued on
the same principle. What the patient feels relieving and comforting, is
almost sure to be the cure for his trouble, if persisted in. _See_
Changing Treatment.
Rest.--In every person there is a certain amount only of force which is
available for living. Also this force, or _vitality_, is _produced_ at
only a certain definite rate. Where the rate is very low, only perfect
quiet in bed for a time can bring down the expenditure far enough to
enable the vital force gradually to accumulate, and a cure to be
effected. Sitting, in such cases, may be serious overwork.
When rest is ordered, we are often met by the reply that it is
impossible, as work cannot be given up. It is, however, often possible
to get a great deal more than is taken. Every spare moment should be
spent lying down in the most restful position. It is an important
element in nursing to give such a comfortable recumbent position to a
patient as constitutes perfect rest, and the nurse who does so, does a
great deal to cure.
There is with many a prejudice against rest. It is somehow believed
that it is a weakening thing to lie still in bed. "You must get up and
take exercise, and enjoy the fresh air." This is a very good order for
a person who has the strength for bracing exercise and fresh air. But
this is absent in a person truly ill. That person's vital force is low,
and the organs that supply it are feeble in their action. The fresh air
may enter the chest, but the lungs are not in a state to make good use
of it. "Exercise and fresh air" only consume the sufferer. On the
contrary, rest and fresh air allow the weak vital force to recruit. The
sort of exercise which is wanted in such cases is given by others in
massaging or such squeezing the muscles as stimulates the organic
nerves without using vital force in the sufferer. We have repeatedly
succeeded in giving new strength by some weeks in bed, when it could
not have been given otherwise. It is all very well for a young, strong
person, only a very little out of sorts, to take a cold sitz-bath for
ten minutes, and then a walk of a mile or two in mountain or seashore
air. But this treatment would be death to one really ill. Perfect rest
in bed, with an abundant supply of air through windows open night and
day, would save the life which such "exercise and air" would send out
of the world. It requires only a little common sense to see this. "He
must be weakened by lying in bed so long." There is no such "must" in
the nature of things. On the contrary, it may be absolutely necessary
to his getting strength that he should lie still for weeks on end. You
may, no doubt, give us instances in which a person was compelled to get
up, and was thereby made to lose the delusion that he was not able to
do so; but such instances in any number will not make one strong who is
actually weak. Make sure first that vital energy is supplied, and when
that supply rises to a certain degree it will not be easy to keep your
patient in bed.
We would also note that true rest can never be had in a forced
position. A limb bound down is not resting. The agonising desire to
change its position shows this. True rest is found always in _freedom_
and _ease_. It may be necessary to put splints on a limb, but it must
never be done where rest is aimed at. Usually there is a position of
comfort to be found. Let the patient find and keep that. He will then
have rest.
For instance, an exhausted patient is lying at full length in bed, but
under the waist there is a hollow which is bridged over by the back.
This part of the back calls for a considerable amount of force to hold
it over this hollow, but we get a pillow inserted under the back, the
muscles relax, and the patient rests. In packing and fomenting an
inflamed knee, for example, it is usually better done in a slightly
_bent_ position, which is more restful than a straight one. Employ two
or three small pillows to prop it comfortably. And so on, in multitudes
of cases, the earnest healer will be guided by the patient's own
restful feelings. _See also_ Noise; Veins.
Restlessness.--In slight cases, where the patient simply cannot sleep
for tossing about in bed, a cold towel placed along the spine, with a
dry one above, will usually relieve, especially if changed and cooled
several times as it grows warm. If heat be specially in the head, then
that may be cooled in the same manner till peace settles down in the
brain.
But we must go on to consider those cases of restlessness in which
there is no extra heat in either spine or brain. Tea may have been
taken in a rather strong infusion, or so late that its peculiar
influence may be the cause of the restlessness. It is necessary to
avoid this beverage if such restlessness is to be escaped; still it
will generally be found that in cases in which tea has caused serious
wakefulness and restless tossing, that there is more than the mere
effect of the herb, and that superabundant heat is present also; then
the application already pointed out will give relief.
Now take an instance in which it seems to be the mind that causes the
tossing rather than the body. Preachers after earnest preaching are in
many cases sleepless and restless too; so are almost all persons when
currents of exciting thoughts have been set agoing in their minds.
Then, no doubt, it is necessary to get at relief from the spiritual
side, by means of thought fitted to calm down the excitement that has
been raised. But it is never well to forget that in all such cases
there is a material as well as a spiritual aspect of the experience.
Many preachers take a sitz-bath before going to bed after a day of
service, and find that somehow when sitting in the cool water the
over-driven brain begins to slacken pace. If from any cause you are
restless and cannot lie still, even after the head and spine have been
cooled as we have described, it is well to take a sitz-bath in cold
water for a few minutes. Dry and wrap up well, and you will be quiet
after. Certain forms of coughing apparently cause the most serious
restlessness. A warm poultice should be placed between the shoulders,
and cold cloths pressed gently on the breast.
If there is extreme shrinking from everything in the least degree cold,
then you need to go a step back in your treatment. A sponging of the
most gentle kind, with CAYENNE LOTION (_see_) and water, all over the
body, given very carefully for three or four days, once a day, will put
away the shrinking to which we refer. This should be done with tepid
water at first, but as the skin freshens it will be found comfortable
to do it with cool water. In tender cases the poultice or hot bag will
need to be comfortably warm, and not hot. The cool cloth must not be
wintry cold, nor even at first summer cold. It is, however, necessary
to get at the hot and irritating surfaces that are causing the cough,
with more or less that is cooling. We may do this ever so gradually,
but we must do it, if we would succeed in giving rest from the cough.
In a strong person's case there is really no difficulty. It is an easy
matter to put on cloth after cloth till the irritated part is reached
and cooled. But when the patient is spent to all but a skeleton, and
has restlessness from frequent coughing, it is a very different matter.
Still to the very last the irritating heat may be kept down, and long
sleeps given, when otherwise it would be hard work indeed to get
through the last stages of illness. We write thus because we know it is
possible to give precious relief even when it is out of the question to
save life. It is possible to make even the last night on earth
comparatively a peaceful one, instead of its being so very restless as
it often is. This is to be done just by cooling the parts that
irritate, and these only. Generally, heat may be required rather than
cold, but at the part which is irritating and keeping up the coughing,
there must be cooling. The kind and capable nurse who can carry out
this cooling is beyond all price. Those only can understand this who
have been delivered from an all but incessant cough by means that
produce no reaction. It is also well to remember that we now and again
give life by means of rest when we had no idea of giving more than
temporary comfort. We have repeatedly had cases in which there seemed
no hope of doing anything further than giving relief, but that relief
has turned out to be the commencement of cure.
Rheumatic Fever.--_See_ Fever, Rheumatic.
Rheumatism.--We feel urged, in first considering this sore and very
common trouble, to quote the old adage that "prevention is better than
cure." Many people laugh at wettings, and some foolish young ones even
seek exposure. We would impress upon all such that the effects of
exposure may be, and often are, cumulative: that is, you may escape any
direct effect for years, and then find your recklessness end in
rheumatism for the rest of your life. Let care, then, be taken to avoid
wettings, unless these lie in the way of duty. Change clothes as
speedily as possible when they are wet, and encourage the skin to all
healthy action by proper care and exercise. Even with the skin all
right, a wise man will not act in a foolhardy way, but if he must get
wet and chilled, he will probably not suffer very much.
We would strongly recommend the use of Kneipp linen underclothing
(_see_ Underwear). It powerfully stimulates the skin, and, by
conducting away the perspiration, prevents chills. We have known many
who suffered severely from rheumatism being quite cured by the use of
this material. It is as comfortable as it is hygienic.
But supposing the rheumatism does come on, it may be treated, in mild
cases, by gradual and steady moist heating. For the method of applying
this, _see_ Fomentation and Armchair Fomentation. If the case is
comparatively a fresh one, there will be need for no more than this
fomenting, repeated several times at intervals of two to four hours.
Where the nervous system has been seriously affected, the fomentation
must be gradual, and the moist heat gently insinuated into the parts
affected. Where narcotics have been used, these _must_ be given up if a
cure is to be hoped for.
In certain chronic cases, which are very largely nervous in their
origin, a powerful soothing influence is required. This is secured by
the use of soap lather (_see_ Lather; Soap). Cover the back and head,
piece by piece, with this, rubbing it on and off four or five times.
Cover the fifth application with a soft cloth, and leave it on for the
day in the morning, and for the night in the evening, the patient being
in bed. Hot olive oil or occasionally cold drawn oil of mustard is
gently rubbed on the stiff parts; when this cloth is removed, gently
knead or squeeze the oil into the muscles. If during the lathering the
patient feels too cold, a little olive oil should be mixed with the
lather. A change to a dry climate from a damp one sometimes does a
patient good, but when that is not possible, great relief, and in many
cases cure, is to be had by this treatment.
Ringworm.--This distressing and most infectious trouble is due to a
small parasite. Where that settles in the skin, a reddish _ring_ soon
appears, and gradually widens, leaving a leprous white patch of skin
within it. Care should be taken at once to cure this, as, if it spreads
widely, serious results follow. Fortunately it is slow in growth, and
can easily be checked and cured. The method of cure is to soak the
rings well with vinegar or weak acetic acid. Of strong acid use three
tablespoonfuls to a quart of water. By even the first good soaking with
this, the developed parasites are killed, but the eggs are not. These
hatch out by degrees, so that renewed soaking and "dabbing" with the
acid and a soft cloth are required. Each application may be continued
for fifteen minutes. If the hair, as on the head, interferes, it may be
cut closely, but need not be shaved. In a bad case the daily soaking
with acid may not be sufficient. Then a poultice of potatoes and
buttermilk (_see_ Buttermilk Poultice) may be applied first, and
afterwards the weak acid. Secure that there be felt, before the close
of each application, a _slight smarting_, to show that the acid has
really soaked in. It is not difficult to guard against its spreading in
a family or school. All that need be done is, once a week or so, to see
that the whole skin of those exposed to infection, head included, is
freshened by a wash all over with vinegar, and then protected with a
gentle rub of olive oil. If this is done we should have little fear of
contagion. Such a weekly freshening would ward off other evils as well
as this one.
Rose.--_See_ Erysipelas.
Rupture.--The abdomen is formed of a series of _rings_ containing the
bowels, and holding them in proper position. If the muscles and tissues
holding these rings _yield_ so as to permit them to separate a little,
what is called "rupture" takes place. It may be caused by violent
muscular efforts, heavy weight lifting, jumping from a height, etc.,
etc. The rings are not broken, but only displaced, and especially with
young persons, the "rupture" can soon be brought all right, but even
with the aged, in all cases it may be mitigated, if not cured, by
proper treatment.
The first thing is to replace any part of the bowels which may have
escaped through the opening of the rings. Lay the patient flat on his
back. He must not be treated in any other attitude. Then rub the
swelling gently _downwards_. It _must not_ be rubbed upwards, or it
will be made worse. This rubbing will soon bring the bowel into its
proper place. Give some time and kindly care to this treatment, which
is very important. Then get a surgical instrument maker to fit a proper
truss. See that this really fits. If it hurts in any way when first put
on, it does not fit well enough. Avoid for a considerable time any
effort likely to strain the part. Take light and easily digested food;
give up all alcoholic drinks and the use of tobacco.
Saliva.--_See_ Digestion; Nourishment.
Saltrome.--The disease known by this name in Canada breaks out in the
hands, especially on the palms. The skin cracks open and refuses to
heal up. Sometimes, if the hands do heal, the trouble comes out on
other parts. It is probably due to the long-continued use of bad and
strongly irritating soap in washing the hands and face, conjoined, in
Canada, with the great dryness of the air.
The treatment for prevention is the regular use of M'Clinton's soap
(_see_ Soap). Where the trouble has developed, the hands and face, if
involved, should be packed in cloths soaked in buttermilk. Then over
the packing we should foment with large hot flannel cloths (_see_
Fomentation). Renew, if necessary, the buttermilk packing, and after a
thorough fomenting, leave the buttermilk cloths on all night, with dry
ones on top. Then gently anoint with OLIVE OIL (_see_). This treatment,
with some rest and the use of the above-mentioned soap, should soon
effect a cure.
Santolina.--This plant is the _Chama Cyparissos_, or ground cypress. It
is of the greatest value as a remedy for worms in the bowels (not
tapeworm), and also acts as a stomach tonic of no small value. It is
cut at the end of the season, made up in small bunches of six stalks or
so, and hung up to dry. When required for worms, boil one of these
bunches in three teacupfuls of water until it is reduced to two
teacupfuls. Half-a-teacupful of this is given to a _child_ with worms,
each morning before any food, for four days. In the evening of the
fourth day an ordinary dose of liquorice powder is given to move the
bowels. For a _grown-up person_ the quantity is a full teacupful each
morning. If a child picks at his nostrils, or grinds his teeth while
sleeping, the santolina will cure him, even if no other symptom of
worms is noticed. It may with advantage be used in all cases where
there is indication of the failure of the mucous membrane of the
stomach and bowels.
Where required as a stomach tonic, santolina should be infused with
boiling water, as tea is. About half-an-ounce of the dried herb is
infused, and a small teacupful taken as hot as can easily be drunk
about an hour after each meal. Half the quantity will do for young
people under fourteen. Do this six days in succession. Then take none
for six days. Then again take it for three days. This treatment may be
repeated after a week.
Sciatica.--This is a severe pain in the lower back, shooting sharply
down the back and calf of the leg. It arises from inflammation of the
large nerve which supplies these parts of the leg with power. Most
commonly it is caused by exposure of the hips or lower back to cold and
damp, as by sitting on the grass or a stone seat.
The cure for it, in the earlier stages, is the application of the
ARMCHAIR FOMENTATION (_see_). This may be applied for an hour, and
renewed immediately for another hour if the patient can stand it, and
then rest given for two hours, and the fomentation applied for two
hours again, or at least for one, taking care to rub with oil and wrap
up in comfortable flannels between and after the treatment. This may be
done again on the second day. The fomentation may then be given once a
day until the pain is removed.
Be quite sure that no trifling application will succeed with such a
disease as this. It will not do to use less heat than will go through
and through the haunches of the patient; and that amount of heat is not
very small. You must have a good soft blanket if possible, your water
must be boiling hot, and you must have plenty of it.
If the hot treatment causes increase of pain, this indicates that a
stage has arrived in which _cold_ is to be applied instead of heat to
the lower back, to subdue nerve irritation. Before or after this stage,
cold application will do harm, so it is well always to try heat first,
as in the great majority of cases that is what is required. When cold
is applied, the patient _must be warm_, and if necessary the feet and
legs should be fomented.
To keep what is got either by the soothing influence of cold or by the
stimulating power of heat, it is good to rub with hot olive oil, and to
dry this off well in finishing, and also to wear a good broad band of
new flannel round the lower part of the body. This band ought not to be
so tight as to confine the perspiration. _See_ Changing Treatment;
Remedy, Finding a.
Scrofula.--The treatment under Glands, Swollen, should be followed. But
besides, the whole membranous system of the glands must be stimulated.
Daily rubbing briskly over the whole body with the cold-drawn oil of
mustard for a quarter-of-an-hour will have this effect, and even by
itself may cure.
Good, easily digested food must be taken (_see_ Abscess; Assimilation;
Diet; Nourishment), and overwork avoided. Continued work, as with a
child at school, may quite prevent a cure, while if the work ceases,
the cure will be rapid. It is better to have health and holidays than
sickness and school. Where there is a family tendency to scrofula, care
should be taken to treat promptly any case of glandular swelling.
Scurvy.--Is a disease springing from disordered digestion, and caused
sometimes by partial starvation, but more frequently by a deficiency of
vegetable acid in the food. It often manifests itself in skin
eruptions, the skin peeling off in scales. To ward off or cure this
disease, fresh food should always be used, and salted or tinned foods
avoided. Especially should abundance of green vegetables and fruit be
used, and where such cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity, lemon
juice is valuable. Too much exposure, fatigue, and impure air, aided by
a wrong diet, are the causes that formerly made scurvy so prevalent in
the navy. It has almost disappeared since a regular allowance of
vegetable acid has been served out.
Seamill Sanatorium and Hydropathic.--Very soon after the appearance of
these "Papers on Health," the need was felt for some establishment
where the treatment expounded here could be given by trained attendants
under Dr. Kirk's personal supervision. The site was fixed on the
Ayrshire coast, in the parish of West Kilbride. This region was chosen
because special advantages of soil, climate, and scenery recommended
it. The soil along the shore is almost pure sand, and dries rapidly
after rain. The climate is extremely mild, high hills sheltering the
whole region from north and east winds, and the Arran mountains,
intervening some sixteen miles over the sea to the west, collect much
of the rain. Hence, although near some very rainy districts, the
Seamill neighbourhood is peculiarly sunny and dry. In winter the sun
reflected from the water, and beating on the face of the hills, makes
the shore climate most genial, and when other places only a few miles
away are encased in ice, flowers will be blooming in the gardens at
Seamill. In the very best part of this district a villa was secured in
1880 by some gentlemen interested in the treatment, with grounds
abutting on the sand of the seashore.
Here treatment was carried on with great success, until it became
evident that larger premises were needed. In 1882 Mr. James Newbigging
was secured by Dr. Kirk as manager and head-bathman, and worked under
Dr. Kirk until the latter's death in 1886.
Mr. Newbigging then bought the establishment. Since that time, it has
constantly increased in size and efficiency until it now accommodates
close on a hundred patients.
Very many have come to Seamill almost or quite hopeless, and have left
it with health restored and vigour renewed.
It ought to be mentioned here that in all his dealings with this
establishment Dr. Kirk never had any pecuniary interest in it, always
giving his services free. Nor has the writer, or any of Dr. Kirk's
family, any pecuniary connection with the place. All information as to
the establishment may be had by writing to the Proprietor or Manager,
Seamill Sanatorium, West Kilbride, Scotland.
Sea-Sickness.--The cause of this is a nervous derangement of the
internal organs, by which the bile passes into the stomach instead of,
as it normally does, passing down into the intestines. A tight bandage
round the middle of the body, so as to oppose resistance to this, will
help _so far_. When the sickness has come on, a teacupful of hot water,
at intervals, will very largely mitigate, and will often cure it. Even
half a teacupful or a tablespoonful will prove sufficient in many cases
where the teacupful cannot be taken. If this small quantity of hot
water be taken every ten minutes, the worst effects of sea-sickness
will not be felt, and far more relief obtained than most people will
believe until they have tried it.
Sensitiveness.--When the nervous system is in a certain state, all
impressions on it are exaggerated, and the patient suffers from light
sounds, and various irritations, far more than is usual or healthy.
This state makes treatment difficult, because either cold towel or hot
flannel distresses the sufferer, and by this does more harm than good.
Narcotics only do harm, without any good, and leave the patient worse.
The nervous system may in such cases be soothed by soaping the back
with soap lather (_see_ Lather; Soap). The lather is to be blood heat,
and very soft and creamy. Spread it all over a soft cloth as large as
the back (having first warmed the cloth), and then place it gently on
the back, lather side next the skin. Let this be done at bedtime.
Fasten the cloth on the back with a bodice that will fasten closely,
and let the patient sleep on it. Wash off in the morning with warm
vinegar and water half-and-half. Rub with oil and dry off. Let the
patient take twice a-day, for eight days, a teaspoonful of well-boiled
liquorice and a tablespoonful of hot water. This treatment will usually
abate the sensitiveness in a week or so, and bring the patient within
reach of other remedies. For example, it will, after a week or so, even
in very trying cases, be possible to foment the feet and legs once a
day, and rub them with warm olive oil. It will even be possible and
well to foment with a hot blanket across the haunches, and in this way
to bring on comparatively strong health. Change of air and scene will
then be desirable: it is highly refreshing to one who is in the way of
recovering, though only harassing to one who is feeling despondent and
increasingly ill. We generally, when asked if a "change" would not be
good in such cases, reply, "Yes, if once you have got health enough to
enjoy it." When that has been fairly secured, stronger measures may be
used with advantage. We feel much sympathy with those who suffer from
sensitiveness, as so many do, and earnestly pray that these remarks may
be blessed to such sufferers.
Shampooing.--_See_ Head, Soaping.
Shingles.--Though not often fatal, this illness gives serious trouble.
Its outstanding feature is a rash which comes out as a more or less
regular belt round the body, or over one shoulder. The rash forms, if
allowed to go on, into blackish scabs, and is accompanied in some
instances by severe pains shooting through the body. It arises from a
failure of the digestive system, therefore the stomach must be as
little taxed as possible. Let hot water be sipped in teaspoonfuls for
half-an-hour at a time, several times a day. For external treatment,
wring a small sheet out of cold water and vinegar, and pack the whole
trunk of the patient in this for half-an-hour. Do not use olive oil.
The vinegar packing may be renewed in an hour, and as often as the
patient feels it agreeable. The mixture of vinegar and water must be
weak enough not to be painful on the skin. If the pains in the body
persist, then cold cloths may be applied, not very large at first, to
the spine, while the patient is warm in bed. Should the feet be cold,
this cooling of the spine must not be done until they are wrapped in a
hot fomentation up to the knees. If the scabby eruption is very
obstinate, the SOAPY BLANKET (_see_) applied daily for two or three
days should clear it away. Wheaten porridge, gruel, and milk diet is
best. A drink may be made of hot water and lemon juice, with five or
six drops of tincture of cayenne added to a tumblerful, and sweetened
to taste. _See_ Drinks.
Shivering.--This is often a trivial matter, but sometimes it is a
symptom of a serious chill. It may be only the effect of a thought, or
of some mental shock, but in any case it is a nervous disturbance, and
failure of energy, causing us to lose control of the nerves which
produce the shivering movements.
For ordinary shivering, the result of cold, treat as in Cold, Taking.
For cases where the vital action has evidently become very low, foment
the patient as directed in Angina Pectoris.
If pain in some part, as in a nursing breast or tender lung, indicates
inflammatory action there, cold towels may be applied to that part
while this fomentation is on. Renew the cold cloth as often as the
patient feels it agreeable, keeping up the heat of the fomentation all
the time. Increase the size of the cold cloth if the patient finds this
pleasant; stop if it becomes unpleasant. Many serious troubles are
checked in the first stage by treatment on these simple lines.
Sick Headache.--_See_ Headache.
Sitting (or Sitz) Bath.--This bath, in whatever form administered, is
essentially a sitting in cold water with the feet out. The feet, in
fact, are better to be warmly covered up while the patient sits in the
bath. The most important thing to be considered in all such baths is
the degree of vitality possessed by the patient. If he has much
vitality, then the bath may be deep and longer continued--as long as
even forty minutes. If the vitality be low, the bath must be brief and
very shallow--it may be even necessary to make it as short as _one
minute_, or even less. In some cases, as a beginning, a mere dip is all
that is required. This leaves a large discretion to the nurse, and is a
matter which common sense should be able to decide. To try a short bath
first, and repeat it several times, rather than to give one long one,
is the safest plan. It will soon be found out how much the patient can
bear. If the vitality be so low as to make the simple sitz-bath a
danger, the feet may be immersed, for the one or two minutes of the
bath, in a small bath of hot water, and the patient well wrapped up all
over in warm blankets.
In some cases it is necessary to _pour_ cold water on relaxed organs,
which, especially with females, will sometimes not be braced up by mere
immersion. But such pouring must be done with caution. Half-a-minute of
it is _a long time_; one quarter-of-a-minute or less will usually be
enough, even in important cases. If longer applications have only done
harm, then let our friends try the one-minute bath, or the
quarter-minute stream of water. In many cases we have known this make
all right. Such short baths may be taken twice or thrice a day.
Skin, Care of.--Among the vast majority of people air and water far too
seldom touch the skin. Want of water makes it unclean, and want of
water and air make it slow in reaction. Now, a healthy skin is of the
utmost value when one is attacked by disease. It can regulate the
temperature of the various organs, and the application of heat or cold
to it will cause a reaction at once. Much of our treatment as given in
this book is directed towards stimulating the action of the skin. It is
obvious that in health as in disease the skin can and does so act on
the internal organs.
It should be the aim of everyone that this most important part of the
body should receive careful attention by a strict watch on the diet, by
cleanliness, tonic water baths (cold, tepid, shower, as may be found to
suit), and by tonic air baths. Light clothing and porous underwear will
also be found of use. We have already drawn attention to the value of
Kneipp linen as the most suitable form of underwear (_see_).
[Illustration: Section of the Skin, showing glandular structure.
Hairs
Fat Cells
Sebaceous Gland
Sweat Gland
Nutrient Artery
Hair Bulb]
Skin, A Wintry.--Something like an epidemic of skin trouble is often
experienced in cold, wintry weather. First, the skin becomes dry and
hard. A moist and sticky exudation replaces the ordinary sweat, and
great irritation is felt when the skin is exposed to the air. If the
sticky exudation be completely rubbed off, this irritation ceases. In
this, and in the absence of inflammation, "wintry skin" differs
entirely from eczema. The remedy is to rub all over every night for
three or four nights with the CAYENNE LOTION (_see_). If this does not
effectually cure, lather all over with soap and olive oil (_see_
Lather; Soap), before rubbing with the cayenne lotion. If the treatment
of the whole skin at once is felt to be too severe, it may be cured by
taking it in parts.
Skin, Creeping.--A sensation sometimes very much annoys patients, which
they describe as like thousands of small creatures creeping over the
skin. It most commonly arises from defective working of the pores. A
kindred trouble may be noticed along with this creeping. It is as if a
stream of cold water were passing down the back. That causes great
discomfort in many cases.
The cure is sponging frequently with weak ACETIC ACID (_see_) or even
good buttermilk. The skin being in such cases very sensitive, it is
well to treat it bit by bit, a small part at a time. Take one limb,
then another, then part of the back, and then another part. Besides
this sponging with acid, and before it is done, the skin should be
gently covered with lather (_see_ Lather; Soap). If this treatment is
not successful, a little olive oil, with cayenne lotion, may be mixed
with the soapy lather, and will make its effect more powerful. This
creepy feeling is sometimes the result of cold, and some extra clothing
may remove it. _See_ Underwear.
Sleep.--No greater mistake could be made than to curtail the hours of
sleep. Eight hours should be taken as a minimum, and any weak person
should take ten hours. More and better work can be done by a person who
takes fully eight hours' sleep than by one who tries to do with less.
Sometimes strong tea or coffee is taken to drive away sleep, and so the
nervous system is injured and sleep will not come when it is desired.
Tea or coffee should never be taken except _very_ weak, and the person
who accustoms himself to this will very soon come greatly to prefer it.
Sleeplessness.--In search of sleep men do many things both dangerous
and foolish--sometimes even fatal. Sleeplessness arises in so many ways
and from so many causes, that it is often hard for the patient to find
a cure, and he will try anything in desperation. A little thought
should prevent this state of mind. For instance, we have a man who
tries to get sleep by fatiguing himself by long walks in the open air
or hard physical work of some kind, but he only grows worse. Now, a
little thought will show that sleep requires a certain amount of brain
energy. If the supply be below this amount, the brain is _too tired_ to
sleep. Violent exercise of any kind will only make matters worse. So
"keeping people awake" all day is tried, to make them sleep at night.
It fails from the same reason--that it _reduces_ brain power. All
narcotics in the end fail similarly. There comes a time when they have
so reduced brain power, that even an enormous dose fails to give sleep,
and the patient comes dangerously near poisoning himself--sometimes,
indeed, does so outright. In all these cases, that which has worn down
the brain _must be given up_ as a first condition of cure. Whether
brain work, over-excitement and dissipation, alcohol or tobacco, the
cause must be removed, and rest taken in the open air, or in well
ventilated rooms.
This done, we come to treatment. Soaping the head (_see_ Head,
Soaping), or even the application of towels wrung out of cold water,
will often, when the cause has been removed, do all that is needed to
give sleep. These remedies, especially the first, should be at once
applied, if the sleeplessness is accompanied, as is usual, with _heat
in the head_. Even where the fevered head is connected with
indigestion, the stomach will be powerfully helped by a good soaping of
the head at bedtime. If, on the contrary, the head is cold, then warm
fomentations to it will be the proper treatment. Perhaps the very best
guide will be to aim at what will make both head and feet perfectly
comfortable, and _both_ of natural heat. If cold, the feet must be
bathed or fomented, and the legs also up to the knees. Sometimes the
pouring of warm water in a _douche_ over the head will act perfectly,
instead of the fomentation; but pouring _cold_ water must be avoided,
or only very cautiously resorted to (_see_ Sitz-Bath and Restlessness).
Sometimes sleeplessness proceeds from the use of bad drinking water,
through its effect on the stomach and bowels. In this case, of course,
the first thing is to see that no bad water is drunk. People cannot be
too careful about a water supply. Usually boiling for half-an-hour
renders water safe enough, but this is not always the case. Care must
then be taken to see that water from any corrupted source is not used.
When it is given up, treatment as above may be applied.
If the sleeplessness be caused by a nasty tickling cough, put a BRAN
POULTICE (_see_), or similar FOMENTATION (_see_) on the back _behind_
where the cough catches. Then change cold towels _in front_ over the
same place. Soap the head, and sleep will probably soon come.
Where palpitation of the heart causes sleeplessness, change cold towels
over the heart, fomenting the feet if necessary, and the palpitation
will usually soon yield. _See_ Brain; Children's Sleep; Exercise; Head;
Rest.
Smallpox.--If an epidemic prevails in the neighbourhood, or a case
occurs in the house, after _due and carefully performed_ vaccination of
the family, the important matter to regard is _cleanliness_. Frequent
and thorough washing and changing of all the clothes worn next the skin
will do much to prevent possible infection. If the clothes are often
changed, then, and well washed, and the skin gets a daily washing with
soap and is sponged with hot vinegar, there is little danger of
infection during an epidemic of smallpox, or even when nursing the
disease. Acetic acid, or white wine vinegar, is even a more powerful
cleansing agent than carbolic acid, and has the advantage of being
non-poisonous.
It is important in treatment to attack the disease early. We have known
an attack completely defeated, and the patient cured, by a wet-sheet
pack administered at the right time. The early symptoms are a great
weariness and chilliness. In this _cold_ stage, half-a-teaspoonful of
cream of tartar, in two tablespoonfuls of hot water, should be given
every half-hour. Also (and this is important) wrap the feet and legs up
over the knees in a large hot FOMENTATION (_see_). The head also may be
packed in hot cloths. If the fever does not rise, the applications may
continue. If the fever does come on, _cold_ cloths must be persistently
changed on the head. This we have known _reduces_ the bodily
temperature two degrees in half-an-hour, when if left alone it would
probably have _risen_ two degrees. The whole body may be packed in a
damp sheet, covered with dry blanket, and this continued cooling of the
head still proceeded with.
When the eruption has appeared, and the violent itching set in, the
eruption must be persistently _soaked_ with weak ACETIC ACID (_see_),
or good white wine vinegar and water. In this soaking, avoid giving the
patient pain by too strong acid. The necessary healing power will be
found in such a mixture as will only cause the eruption slightly to
smart.
It is not necessary to treat a patient all over at once. You will do
better if you take one or two pimples at a time. You can then pass from
part to part slowly, getting over the whole. You can use a little olive
oil after this soaking with vinegar, and so keep off all danger of
chill such as might occur if too much of the surface were treated at
once.
If these simple means are well applied from the first, it must be a
very bad case indeed which will not be cured, and most likely without
any marks being left on the skin.
Snake Bites.--A snake bite is only one of a large class of injuries
which may be considered under one title. From an insect sting upwards
to the most fatal snake bite, we need to note, first, the _blow_ or
_shock_ of the bite, and then the fever symptoms which show poison
spreading in the system. The blow or shock paralyses or kills a larger
or smaller part of the nervous system. The nerve of the heart may be
almost instantly so paralysed, with fatal effect. The snake poison
especially affects the organic nervous system, and thus attacks the
very source of vitality. In smaller stings, rubbing vinegar or weak
ACETIC ACID (_see_) into the wound is sufficient almost instantly to
cure. The same substance will cure greater evils. In the case of snake
bite, first suck the wound thoroughly, watching that the lips and gums
of the person who sucks are free from wound or scratch, or use what is
called "dry cupping." Much may be done thus in a _few seconds_. But it
must not be continued longer, and hinder the next step. This is to
inject weak acetic acid _into the bite_. Where snakes are abundant, a
small syringe, such as is used to inject morphia, with a rather blunt
point, should be always carried, and acetic acid of the right strength.
The injection must be _thorough_, and of course pain must be borne to
avoid greater evil. Foment cautiously but persistently over the stomach
and along the spine. Pay special attention to the lower back if bitten
in the foot or leg, and to the upper part if in the hand or arm. During
recovery, give careful diet, and rest. Of course this treatment will
fail in some cases, as any treatment may. But if immediately applied,
it will save a very large number of lives.
Soaping the Head.--_See_ Head, Soaping.
Soap, M'Clinton's.--Those of our readers who have followed out in
practice the suggestions which we have given in these papers, will have
seen some reason to believe in the importance of soap. Probably some of
them have laughed at patients whose chief need evidently was a good
washing of the skin! But there is more in soap applications than mere
cleansing. These are found to be of immense value in cases in which
there has been no want of perfect cleanliness--in cases even in which
the skin has been habitually clean. For instance, in patients with
nerves so sensitive that almost no application of any kind can be used,
a covering of the back with a fine lather, and over this a soft cloth,
has soothed the system so effectively that a great step has been
secured by this alone in the direction of cure.
When in search of really good soap we soon find that certain soaps are
very harmful. Soaps made from "soda ash," as nearly all hard soaps are,
tend to dry and harden the skin, and if used often produce bad effects.
Soda soap does well enough for many purposes, and if it is not used
often, and the skin is strong, no great harm may be done; but when it
has to be used frequently, or is applied to a tender sensitive skin or
to parts from which the outer skin has been removed, it will not do at
all.
For years we had been seeking for somebody who could make us hard soap
without any mixture of soda. Once, when in Belfast, we spoke of this to
a friend. He took us to a soapmaker, to whom we mentioned our desire.
This gentleman at once saw what we wanted, and told us frankly that he
could not make the soap that would suit us, and that he knew only one
firm in the trade who could do so. But he assured us that that firm
made a pure hard soap which we should find exactly suitable to our
purpose. Thus we were introduced to the manufacturers of M'Clinton's
soap. This firm, we found, made the very soap we had been so long in
search of.
It is made (by a process which is, we believe, a secret in possession
of this firm alone) from the ash of plants, and so it may truly be said
that it is Nature's soap.
There is something in the composition of this soap which makes it
astonishingly curative and most agreeable on the skin. Lather made from
it, instead of drying and so far burning the skin of those using it,
has the most soothing and delightful effect.
As yet we do not feel able to explain this, not being sufficiently
chemical for the work, but we have tried the matter, and feel assured
that this soap is by a long way the best for cleansing and curative
purposes. Even soap which possesses the same chemical composition lacks
the properties of that made from plants, a fact not without parallel,
as chemists know. The substances of the plant ash differ in some
unknown way from even those chemically the same, which have been
artificially produced.
We trust that our noticing the thing in this way will have the effect
of calling attention to the whole question of soap-making and using. It
is one of those questions on which great ignorance prevails. Many
people judge toilet soaps by the perfume and price. If the former is
pleasant, and the latter high, they consider they must be getting
something specially suitable, and yet the soap itself may be very
injurious. Before we had some cases of bad diseases of the skin arising
from the use of certain soaps, it did not occur to us to think much of
the difference between one sort and another. Hence we just said, "use
lather from good soap." Now we see need for care as to the kind of soap
used, and especially to warn against all soaps, however fine-looking,
that burn the tender skin when lather made from them is much applied.