The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/684 (page 3)
    ACCIDENTS ringing in the ears and deafness. A little boracic ointment will ease the itching, and the formation of matter will be assisted by the use of hot fomentations. A few drops of a io per cent, lukewarm solution of carbolic acid in glycerine, prevented from escaping by a plug of cotton- wool, will be grateful. The abscess takes a considerable time to break, but when this has happened the ear must be gently syringed with a warm i per cent, solution of izal, dried, and plugged with cotton-wool (changed often, since it speedily ab- sorbs the discharge). It is essential to keep the ear sweet and clean, to avoid cold and draughts, to take healthy exercise regularly,and to live carefully. Tonics may be necessary for some time, if the system be at all run down. There must be no tinkering whatever with the ear, and should the abscess need to be opened, this must be done by a doctor. ACCIDENTS, REMOVAL OF PERSONS INJURED BY Accidents are often rendered more painful and more severe by the awkward manner in which, with the best intentions, the suf- ferer is carried with the limbs dangling or rolling about. There is generally little difficulty in find- ing out a fracture of the leg, thigh, foreaim, or upper-arm, especially if it be at or near the middle of the bone, because not merely is the sufferer incapable of lifting up the limb, but in an attempt to do so there will be an unnatural bending and grating motion at the injured part. v In many cases of fracture the signs are not so evi- dent, particularly when in the neighbourhood of a joint. A per- son who has broken his arm, either above or below the elbow, will find it least painful to place the fore- arm at right angles with the upper- arm, in a broad sling, which will contain it from the elbow to the points of the fingers ; and, should he not have far to go, he will find that walking will cause much less pain and shaking than conveyance in a carriage of any kind. If the leg or thigh be broken, a hurdle, door, or shutter, covered with straw, coats, or blankets, may be converted into an excellent litter, which should be laid down by the side of the sufferer, who should be gently and quickly lifted or slid on it, by as many persons as are sufficient to raise him up a very little from the ground, and by no more, as the greater the number of assistants, the less likely are they to act together efficiently. The shutter or hurdle should be carried by hand, two persons at each end taking hold of it and all marching in broken steps as they move along. If a couple of poles can be procured and fixed across beneath each end of the hurdle, the bearers will carry with less fatigue both to themselves and the patient. If no shutter or hurdle can be obtained, no bad substitute will be made by fastening four stout poles together and tying a blanket securely to them, so as to resemble the frame and sacking of a bed- stead, and upon this the injured person can be laid. Hand carriage in either of these ways is infinitely easier than being moved in a coach or cart, for every jolt over an irre- gularity in the road produces motion in the broken bone and a proportionate degree of pain. Be- fore placing the person on the hurdle, shutter, or blanket, it is a good plan to string the sound limb close to the broken one and tie them firmly with two or three