Part 19 (2/2)
THE STOMACH BATH.
The first method is simplicity itself, and consists in drinking from half to a pint of hot water, as hot as can be drank with comfort, in the morning after rising, or half an hour before breakfast. It loosens up the mucus in the stomach, and in half an hour it will have pa.s.sed out.
The second consists in drinking tepid water until nauseated, then the stomach will throw it back, with its contents. This thoroughly empties and cleanses the stomach. From a pint to a quart is usually sufficient, although two quarts will do no harm. If the stomach does not reject it readily, thrust the forefinger down the throat to the end of the glottis.
The third method is by the stomach tube.
THE TURKISH BATH.
Provide a wooden bottomed Chair, and having stripped the patient of all Clothing, except a pair of woolen drawers to protect his legs from the heat, let him sit on it, with his feet ankle deep in a hot foot bath, just as hot as he can bear. Wrap him about first with a blanket, tucking it close around the neck, but letting it hang loose over the chair and vessel containing the foot bath, but so arranged as to exclude the air from his person. Over the blanket wrap one or two heavy comfortables, the object being to prevent the escape of the heat and exclude the outside air from the body. Raising one side of the comfortables and blanket, place under the chair an old tea cup half full of alcohol. Set it on fire and again close the opening. Give him a drink of cold water, and if the head feels oppressed, apply a wet towel wrung from cold water. Add more hot water to the foot bath once or twice, keeping it as hot as he can bear it during the continuance of the bath. Keep him in the bath until the alcohol is all burned out.
Then wash him down with soap and tepid water, sponge off with cool water, rubbing the flesh and working the muscles vigorously the meanwhile. Then dry off by patting the skin with the towel (not rubbing it), leaving a little moisture on it; dress quickly and let him lie down for an hour or put him to bed.
It should not be taken either immediately before or after a meal.
There are excellent bath cabinets to be obtained, but in their absence the above will be found excellent.
THE WET SHEET-PACK.
Spread over the bed or cot two or more heavy cornfortables, over these a pair of blankets, then, if for a person of strong vitality, wring a sheet out of cold water just dry enough not to drip, and spread it over the blanket; lay the patient stripped of all clothing on the sheet with his arms by his sides, tuck the sheet around him, then the blankets and comfortables, leaving his head out but tucking it close around the neck and over his feet--making a mummy of him, so to say. If the head is hot or aches, apply a towel wrung from cold water and renew it as often as it gets warm. To the feet apply a jug of hot water. Let him lie in the pack from twenty to forty minutes, or even longer if he is comfortable. He will soon get warm and sweat freely.
This is the end desired. If he goes to sleep, as is often the case, don't be in a hurry to wake him up. He will take no harm so long as he keeps warm. See that there is plenty of fresh air in the room. When he has been in the pack a sufficient length of time close the windows, then take him out and wash him down thoroughly with soap and soft, tepid water, then sponge off with cooler water, rubbing him down vigorously and working the flesh the meanwhile. If not too weak he should a.s.sist in this operation. Then dry off by patting the skin with the towel (not rubbing it), leaving a little moisture on the skin.
Then, if in the day time, and the weather is not too cold, a little exercise in the open air will be beneficial. If he is too weak to exercise put him to bed again.
Before and during the pack let him have all the cold water he wants to drink, in small quant.i.ties at a time. If the patient has but little vitality, wring the sheet out of tepid water instead of cold water.
The hot sheet-pack is used in the same manner, the only difference being that the sheet is wrung out of water as hot as can be borne.
CARE OF THE ”CASCADE.”
What is worth having is worth taking care of; and the ”Cascade” is so likely to be called into emergency service, that it should be always in order--hence the following suggestions:
After using it, hang it up by the eyelet, until it ceases to drip; then put in the stopper. The small amount of moisture left in will help to keep it flexible. It should be kept hanging, if possible, as folds in the rubber predispose it to crack. It should be kept in an even temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.
Never pour boiling, or very hot water into it--it is not designed to withstand such a degree of heat, and do not let grease, in any form, come in contact with it, as grease decomposes rubber.
PART NINE.
SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.
If there is one thing in particular that I desire to impress upon my readers, it is, don't dread disease. It is a beneficial agent, for it is Nature's method of re-adjusting matters in the human economy. There are only two conditions, health and disease. Mark the etymology of the word! Whenever there is any departure from the normal, it is bound to manifest itself in the organ or structure most in need of repair; but as disease is a tearing down, and its cure a process of building up, it does not need the wisdom of Solomon to recognize the fact that all a.s.sistance toward recovery must come from within. Disease is just as natural a condition as health; both are the result of the operation of natural law. Disease, being Nature's method of cure, any attempt to suppress it must of necessity invite disaster.
This is one of the chief reasons why I am opposed to drug medication, because its sole aim seems to be the suppression of symptoms. Pain, the chief symptom, is not disease, but simply the messenger bringing warning of the disease to the brain. To silence this messenger, yet leave the disease unchecked, is folly. It would be just as reasonable, if the house were on fire, to cut the cord of the alarm bell, and to conclude because you could no longer hear the bell that the danger was past. Disease, therefore, being beneficial, should be welcomed as a friend, and every a.s.sistance given to Nature to a.s.sist her in restoring normal conditions.
Prevention is better than cure, you will all agree, and the great elements of prevention are, knowledge of self, cleanliness, physical, mental and moral; hygiene and sanitation. I contend that physiology is the most important subject that can engage the attention of the individual. Nothing is so essential as a knowledge of the functioning of the body in which he dwells, for it is the vehicle through which the real self is to find expression; through which he is to achieve success or failure, according to the condition of its mechanism.
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