Health and Disease : Part 5

Hygienic Physiology: with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics
by Joel Dorman Steele, Ph.D.

(Page 13 of 15)

3. Place the patient on his back, wipe out the mouth and nostrils, and secure the tongue from falling backward over the throat. Kneel at his head, grasp his arms firmly above the elbows, and pull them gently upward until they meet over the head, in order to draw air into the lungs; reverse this movement to expel the air. Repeat the process about fifteen times per minute. Alternate pressure upon the chest, and blowing air into the mouth through a quill or with a pair of bellows, may aid your efforts. Use snuff or smelling salts, or pass Hartshorne under the nose. Do not lose hope quickly. Life has been restored after five hours of suspended animation.

4. When respiration is established, wrap the patient in dry, warm clothes, and rub the limbs under the blankets or over the dry clothing energetically toward the heart. Apply heated flannels, bottles of hot water, etc., to the limbs, and mustard plasters to the chest.

Foreign Bodies In The Ear. - Insects may be killed by dropping a little sweet oil into the ear. Beans peas, etc., may generally be removed by so holding the head that the affected ear will be toward the ground, and then cautiously syringing tepid water into it from below. Do not use much force lest the tympanum be injured. If this fail, dry the ear, stick the end of a little linen swab into thick glue, let the patient lie on one side, put this into the ear until it touches the substance, keep it there three quarters of an hour while it hardens, and then draw them all out together. Be careful that the glue does not touch the skin at any point, and that you are at work upon the right ear. Children often deceive one as to the ear which is affected.

Foreign Bodies In The Nose, such as beans, cherry pits, etc., may frequently be removed by closing the opposite nostril, and then blowing into the child's mouth forcibly. The air, unable to escape except through the affected nostril, will sweep the obstruction before it.

Antidotes To Poisons

Acids: Nitric, hydrochloric (muriatic), sulphuric (oil of vitriol), oxalic, etc. - Drink a little water to weaken the acid, or, still better, take strong soapsuds. Stir some magnesia in water, and drink freely. If the magnesia be not at hand, use chalk, soda, lime, whiting, soap, or even knock a piece of plaster from the wall, and scraping off the white outside coat pound it fine, mix with milk or water, and drink at once. Follow with warm water, or flaxseed tea.

Alkalies: Potash, soda, lye, ammonia (Hartshorne). - Drink weak vinegar or lemon juice. Follow with castor or linseed oil, or thick cream.

Antimony: Antimonial wine, tartar emetic, etc. - Drink strong, green tea, and in the meantime chew the dry leaves. The direct antidote is a solution of nutgall or oak bark.

Arsenic: Cobalt, Scheele's green, fly powder, ratsbane, etc. - Give plenty of milk, whites of eggs, or induce vomiting by mustard and warm water; or even soapsuds.

Bite of A Snake Or A Mad Dog. - Tie a bandage above the wound, if on a limb. Wash the bite thoroughly, and, if possible, let the person suck it strongly. Rub some lunar caustic or potash in the wound, or heat the point of a small poker or a steel sharpener white hot, and press it into the bite for a moment. It will scarcely cause pain, and will be effectual in arresting the absorption of the poison, unless a vein has been struck.

Copper: Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), acetate of copper (verdigris). - Take whites of eggs or soda. Use milk freely.

Laudanum: Opium, paregoric, soothing cordial, soothing syrup, etc. - Give an emetic at once of syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, etc. After vomiting, use strong coffee freely. Keep the patient awake by pinching, pulling the hair, walking about, dashing water in the face, and any expedient possible.

Lead: White lead, acetate of lead (sugar of lead), red lead. - Give an emetic of syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, or salt and water. Follow with a dose of Epsom salts.

MATCHES: Phosphorus. - Give magnesia, chalk, whiting, or even flour in water, and follow with mucilaginous drinks.

MERCURY: Calomel, chloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate, bug poison), red precipitate. - Drink milk copiously. Take the whites of eggs, or stir flour in water, and use freely.

Nitrate of Silver (lunar caustic). - Give salt and water, and follow with castor oil.

Nitrate of Potash (saltpeter, niter). - Give mustard and warm water, or syrup of ipecac. Follow with flour and water, and cream or sweet oil.

Prussic Acid (oil of bitter almonds), cyanide of potassium. - Take a teaspoonful of hartshorn in a pint of water. Apply smelling salts to the nose, and dash cold water in the face.

Sting of An Insect. - Apply a little hartshorn or spirits of camphor, or soda moistened with water, or a paste of clean earth and saliva.

Sulphate of Iron (green vitriol). - Give syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, or any convenient emetic; then magnesia and water.