A small bottle of tincture of iodine and one of 70% alcohol should be kept for disinfecting. Neither one is for internal use. The iodine is used to disinfect small wounds and abrasions of the skin. It is applied with cotton swabs and several swabs should be made and kept on hand in a box or envelope. Alcohol is used to disinfect thermometers and other instruments that cannot be boiled, for rubbing, and may also be used for disinfecting the skin. A 90% solution is sometimes used for rubbing; it need not be bought until needed. Denatured and wood alcohol are poisons and should be used in households only in spirit lamps; they are not safe for other purposes. First aid materials may include two gauze bandages two and one-half inches wide and two bandages one inch wide, one American Red Cross First Aid Outfit, a small package of absorbent cotton, a roll of old muslin, a package of adhesive plaster one inch wide, boracic ointment, picric acid gauze or other application for burns, safety pins, and a pair of scissors. For use in cases of fainting or exhaustion it is well to keep aromatic spirits of ammonia on hand. Its bottle should have a rubber stopper. The dose is one-half to one teaspoonful, in a quarter to half a glass of water. Hot coffee and tea are also good stimulants, but the time necessary to prepare them makes it desirable to have aromatic ammonia on hand. Household or ordinary ammonia must not be used as a substitute. Olive oil, mustard, and baking soda may be brought from the kitchen when needed. It is assumed that vaseline, cold cream, hand lotion, talcum powder, and other toilet preparations will also be available. Only a few appliances are necessary. Among them are a medicine glass, a teaspoon, clinical thermometer, hot water bag, fountain syringe, and an alcohol lamp in houses without gas or electric stoves. It is better not to buy other appliances until they are needed, particularly rubber goods since they deteriorate rapidly. EXERCISES 1. Why is it dangerous for persons without medical training to prescribe medicines? What is the especial danger of dosing oneself? 2. What is meant by a habit-forming drug? Name all you can, and tell why they are peculiarly dangerous. 3. What are the special objections to patent medicines? 4. What precautions should be taken in order to administer medicine accurately? What precautions to avoid giving wrong medicines? 5. How may some disagreeable medicines be made more palatable? 6. Tell how to prepare and give a soapsuds enema. 7. How should a fountain syringe be cared for? a throat spray? 8. Describe methods for giving steam inhalations. 9. Describe the equipment and care of a household medicine cupboard. 10. What drugs is it well for a family to keep on hand? What appliances? What materials for first aid?