Advice to the people in general, with regard to their healthTissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)
Science
Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health
Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)
Hygiene -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. -- Early works to 1800; Medicine, Popular -- Early works to 1800
Sec. 35. These Patients earnestly covet a great Load of covering, during
the Cold or Shivering; but we should be very careful to lighten them as
soon as it abates; so that when the succeeding Heat begins, they may
have no more than their usual Weight of Covering. It were to be wished
_perhaps_, they had rather less. The Country People lie upon a
Feather-bed, and under a downy Coverlet, or Quilt, that is commonly
extremely heavy; and the Heat which is heightened and retained by
Feathers, is particularly troublesome to Persons in a Fever.
Nevertheless, as it is what they are accustomed to, this Custom may be
complied with for one Season of the Year: but during our Heats, or
whenever the Fever is very violent, they should lie on a Pallet (which
will be infinitely better for them) and should throw away their
Coverings of Down, so as to remain covered only with Sheets, or
something else, less injurious than Feather-Coverings. A Person could
scarcely believe, who had not been, as I have, a Witness of it, how much
Comfort a Patient is sensible of, in being eased of his former
Coverings. The Distemper immediately puts on a different Appearance.
Sec. 36. As soon as the Heat after the _Rigor_, or Coldness and Shuddering,
approaches, and the Fever is manifestly advanced, we should provide for
the Patient's _Regimen_. And
1, Care should be taken that the Air, in the Room where he lies, should
not be too hot, the mildest Degree of Warmth being very sufficient; that
there be as little Noise as possible, and that no Person speak to the
Sick, without a Necessity for it. No external Circumstance heightens the
Fever more, nor inclines the Patient more to a _Delirium_ or Raving,
than the Persons in the Chamber, and especially about the Bed. They
lessen the Spring, the elastic and refreshing Power, of the Air; they
prevent a Succession of fresh Air; and the Variety of Objects occupies
the Brain too much. Whenever the Patient has been at Stool, or has made
Urine, these Excrements should be removed immediately. The Windows
should certainly be opened Night and Morning, at least for a Quarter of
an Hour each Time; when also a Door should be opened, to promote an
entire Renovation or Change of the Air in the Room. Nevertheless, as the
Patient should not be exposed at any Time to a Stream or Current of Air,
the Curtains of his Bed should be drawn on such Occasions; and, if he
lay without any, Chairs, with Blankets or Cloaths hung upon them, should
be substituted in the Place of Curtains, and surround the Bed; while the
Windows continued open, in Order to defend the Patient from the Force of
the rushing Air. If the Season, however, be rigidly cold, it will be
sufficient to keep the Windows open, but for a few Minutes, each Time.
In Summer, at least one Window should be set open Day and Night. The
pouring a little Vinegar upon a red-hot Shovel also greatly conduces to
restore the Spring, and correct the Putridity, of the Air. In our
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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