The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1004, March 25, 1899 — John Shaqi
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1004, March 25, 1899Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1004, March 25, 1899
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
There is no need to again dress the wound, unless it becomes hot and
painful. If you have got the wound absolutely clean, when the dressings
have been on for a few days, it will have completely healed without
discharging more than a few drops of fluid. If, however, the wound
smarts, it must be dressed again, and possibly every other day. It
should be dressed in the same way as it was in the first instance.
When the wound is very jagged, or impossible to get thoroughly clean,
it is best to put on fomentations for the first day or two.
Fomentations have taken the place of poultices in modern surgery.
Never put a poultice of any kind near an open wound. All your care and
cleanliness will go for nothing if you do.
To make fomentations take a square of lint and fold it twice. Then
wring it out in boiling carbolic solution (1 in 80) and apply it as
hot as it can be borne. Cover it with a square of oiled silk, put on a
thick layer of wool, and bandage. Fomentations should be renewed three
or four times a day.
When treating a wound, never use sticking-plaster except to keep on
a dressing. Sticking-plaster must never be placed on a wound, and
above all it must not cover the wound. If it does so, it will keep the
discharge locked up under it. The discharge will decompose, and a very
serious state of affairs may intervene. Free drainage is essential in
all wounds, and if this is interfered with, the wounds will go wrong.
What have we to put in our box for the treatment of wounds? The
following—
Carbolic acid solution, powdered boracic acid, sal alembroth gauze,
surgeon’s lint, absorbent cotton wool, oiled silk, bandages, pair of
scissors, syringe (glass).
Burns are common accidents, and though they do not call for such rapid
treatment as do wounds, nevertheless, it is always advisable to see to
them at once.
The pain of burns and scalds is often very severe, especially when the
flesh is not deeply burnt. You can relieve the pain by the application
of sweet oil, or by an emulsion of sweet oil and lime water, sometimes
called carron oil. The latter is better, but the former can be obtained
in any household, so it is not worth while filling up your box with the
emulsion.
After a burn, if the skin has not been destroyed, a blister will form.
This blister can be left alone, pricked, or removed entirely. If you
are not certain of cleanliness or you do not possess antiseptics, never
open a blister. If you leave it, the liquid will become absorbed and
the cuticle will flake away.
You are usually told to prick blisters as soon as they are fully
formed. This treatment we cannot countenance. If you are sure of
cleanliness, and the needle you use is absolutely sterile (_i.e._, free
from germs), and if, moreover, your after-treatment is properly carried
out, then there is no danger in pricking a blister. But no amateur ever
is certain of perfect cleanliness. And we fail to see the advantage of
pricking the blister after all.
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