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Remedies

An emetic. If it has been eaten some time, give castor oil by the mouth and clyster. After these have operated, twenty drops of ether may be taken on a lump of sugar.

Foreign Bodies in the Throat.

Persons are frequently in danger of suffocation from fish-bones, pins, etc., which stick in the throat. The moment an accident of this kind occurs, desire the patient to be perfectly still, open his mouth, and look into it. If you can see the obstruction, endeavor to seize it with your finger and thumb, or a long slender pair of pincers. If it cannot be got up, or is not of a nature to do any injury in the stomach, push it down with the handle of a spoon, or a flexible round piece of whalebone, the end of which is neatly covered with a roll of linen, or anything that may be at hand.

If you can get it neither up nor down, place two grains of tartar emetic in the patient's mouth.

As it dissolves, it will make him excessively sick, and in consequence of the relaxation, the bone, or whatever it may be, may descend into the stomach or be ejected from the mouth.

If a pin, button, or other metallic or pointed body has been swallowed (or pushed into the stomach), make the patient eat plentifully of thick rice pudding, and afterwards give him a dose of castor oil, to carry it off by the bowels.

Of Burns and Scalds.

There are three kinds of remedies generally employed in accidents of this nature. Cooling applications, such as pounded ice, snow, cold water, lime-water and oil. Stimulants, as warm spirits of turpentine, and carded or raw cotton.

Any one of these articles that happens to be nearest at hand may be tried, although the preference is due to the lime-water and linseed or sweet oil, equal parts, applied on strips of soft linen or muslin, and laid over the parts burned, and covered with oiled silk. Raw cotton may be used if the burn is extensive but not deep. Sprinkling wheat, rye, or starch flour is preferred by some; fresh lard by others, or glycerin. Equal parts of lime-water and linseed oil, well mixed, form one of the most soothing of all applications. Should the system seem to sink, wine, bark, etc. must be employed.

Of Mortification.

From what has been already stated, it is evident that in treating wounds, etc., as well as diseases, one great and important indication is to repress excessive inflammation, which, if allowed to proceed to a certain point, sometimes produces mortification or death of the parts. If the fever and pain suddenly cease; if the part which before was red, swollen and hard becomes purple and soft, abandon at once all reducing measures, lay a blister over the whole of the parts, and give wine, porter, bark, etc., freely and without delay. If the blisters do not put a stop to the disease, and the parts become dead and offensive, There is a particular kind of mortification which comes of itself, or without any apparent cause.

It attacks the small toes of old people, and commences in a small bluish or black spot, which spreads to different parts of the foot. To remedy it place a blister over the spot, and give two grains of opium night and morning, taking care to keep the bowels open by castor oil, and to di minish the quantity of opium, if it occasions any unpleasant effects.

In extensive mortifications of the forearm it is necessary to amputate. This, however. should never be done, until by the repeated application of stimulating poultices or washes to the sound parts adjoining the mortified ones, they are disposed to separate, which may be easily known by inspection.

Directions for Bleeding.

Tie up the arm, placing the bandage at least two inches above the projection of the elbow joint, and then feel for the pulse at the wrist. If it is stopped, the bandage is too tight, and must be relaxed. Select the most prominent vein, and feel with the tip of your finger if an artery lies near it. If you feel one pulsating so close to the vein that you are fearful of wounding it, choose another. Having set your lancet (I allude, of course, to the spring lancet, the only one that can be used with safety), bend the arm in the precise position it is to be kept in while the blood flows.

The cutting edge of the lancet is now to be placed on the vein, while you depress the handle or frame just as much as you wish the cut to be deep. By touching the spring on the side with your thumb, the business is done. To stop the bleeding, relax the bandage, press the two edges of the wound together, place a little compress of linen on it, and bind up the whole with a bandage passing round the joint in a figure of eight.

Directions for Passing the Catheter.

Take the penis of the patient near its head between the finger and thumb of your left hand (standing beside him), while with your right you introduce the point of the instrument into the urinary passage, its convex side towards his knees. While you push the catheter down the urethra, endeavor, at the same time to draw up the penis on it. When you first introduce it the handle will of course be near the belly of the patient, and as it descends will be thrown further from it, until it enters the bladder, which will be known by the flow of the urine. If you cannot succeed while the patient is on his back, make him stand up, or place him with his shoulders and back on the ground, while his thighs and legs are held up by assistants. If still foiled, place him again on his back, and, when you have got the catheter as far down as it will go, introduce the forefinger, well oiled, into the fundament, and endeavor to push its point upwards, while you still press it forward with the other hand. Force is never, on any account, to be used. Vary your position as often as you please; let the patient try it himself; but always remember it is by humoring the instrument, and not by violence, that you can succeed.

Directions for Passing Bougies.

Take the penis between your finger and thumb, and pass the point of the instrument (which should be well oiled) down the urethra, as directed for the catheter. When it has entered three or four inches, depress the penis a little, and, by humoring the bougie with one hand and the penis with the other, endeavor to pass it as far as may be wished. The patient himself will frequently succeed, when every one else fails.