Do small-pox & cow-pox afford any protection from Asiatic cholera? : with some observations / by Ambrose Blacklock.

  • Blacklock, Ambrose, 1816-1873.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Do small-pox & cow-pox afford any protection from Asiatic cholera? : with some observations / by Ambrose Blacklock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    25/41 (page 25)
    Such candles would be very manageable, and we might light a few for a minute or so at a time in any part of a sick chamber. Fanning the patient’s face is always agreeable to him, as movement of the air about him is thus ensured. The next important matter to attend to is the preven- tion or arrest of cramps. While they continue the patient’s strength is rapidly lowered by the intolerable suffering, and the medical attendants and nurses are always somewhat unnerved by his cries, and unfitted for accurately ascertaining his actual condition, and minister- ing efficiently to his wants. Friction does no good in cramp. As cramps intermit, the intervals between them are erroneously supposed to be owing to the friction so generally employed. The cramps recur at intervals for a certain time in all cases in which they occur, in spite of frictions or any application but pressure. Keep down the centre or belly of a muscle so that it cannot curve up, and then there cannot be any contraction whatever. To do this effectually in the legs, provide a number of strong cotton straps each a yard long or thereabouts, and spread one side with soft sticky adhesive plaster which will adhere easily at a rather low temperature. Each strap should be two inches broad for small legs; but if the calves are full and rise abruptly, the strap must not be more than one and a-half inches in breadth, in order that it may be applied easily. If the patient is a man, a Plantagenet guard-razor should be at hand to take the hair rapidly off the legs, so as to allow the straps to be easily removed afterwards. Apply one end of a strap between the calf and ancle, and carry it upwards round and round the leg in a spiral, taking care to pull very hard when you are near the belly of the calf, so as to bind it firmly down. The strength of pull must, of course, be proportioned to the muscularity of the limb. Two straps, at least, will be required to ban- dage nearly to the knee. If cramps are threatening in- the feet, put a pellet of tow between every two toes, and a firm ball of tow as big as a fist under the hollow of the foot, and then apply the same kind of plaster strap firmly round the foot from the base of the toes to the ancle. If cramps begin in the forearms and hands, treat these ex- tremities in the same way, minding the tow balls and pellets for the hands. Cramps do not often affect the thighs ; but, when they do, the only plan to arrest them