In removing soiled bed-clothes the following plan is the one usually adopted. The patient is moved to one side of the bed as near the edge as possible, and the sheet beneath him loosened at the head and the foot and on the opposite side; it is then rolled up toward the patient and pushed well up under him, leaving the side of the bed opposite to that upon which he is lying bare; upon this the new sheet is placed, which is then tucked under the edges of the mattress, and the patient rolls or is pulled back over on it. The soiled sheet is then removed and the edges of the fresh one pulled over the portions of the bed still uncovered, and secured in the usual way. _General Precautions._--The room should also be kept scrupulously clean; all sweepings should be burned. Soiled linen and all excretions from the patient should be promptly removed, and if the latter need not be preserved for the inspection of the physician, should be at once disinfected and properly disposed of. Milk and other food should not be left in the sick room; and soiled glasses and dishes should be removed and washed at once in boiling water. Persons who are ill should not be allowed to have company. There is nothing more important in connection with the looking after patients with infectious diseases than this precaution. The writer has often seen in the country districts patients with typhoid fever and other infectious diseases surrounded by the neighbors from miles around,--the entire company often eating and drinking in the room occupied by the afflicted person. The strain that results on the patient from a practice of this kind might well in many cases have fatal consequences, and there is no question whatever that many diseases, particularly typhoid fever, are scattered in this way from house to house and from one community to another. The diet should be given regularly and should consist strictly of only such things as are allowed by the physician. All medicines should be given absolutely according to directions, as otherwise having a doctor is worse than useless. All patients should have a daily bath, special attention being given to their hair, teeth, mouth and nails. In many cases it is necessary to wash the patient's mouth frequently with some antiseptic wash. This should only be done on the expressed instructions of the doctor. CHAPTER XIV EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS