The Scientific American cyclopedia of formulas : partly based upon the twenty-eighth edition of Scientific American cyclopedia of receipts, notes and queries 15,000 formulas / edited by Albert A. Hopkins.

Albert A. Hopkins

Date:: 1910

Credit: The Scientific American cyclopedia of formulas : partly based upon the twenty-eighth edition of Scientific American cyclopedia of receipts, notes and queries 15,000 formulas / edited by Albert A. Hopkins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

19/1096 page 5

$CHAPTER I. ACCIDENTS AID EMERGENCIES No book of Receipts would be deemed complete without its chapter on accidents and emergencies. The following short resume of what should be done in case of unusual and serious accidents, is compiled from a valuable little series of books which are now out of print, which were issued in 1905 by the Mutual Life Insur¬ ance Company of New York City, and copyrighted by that company in 1903, 1904, and 1905. Republished by permis¬ sion : An accident usually assembles a crowd around the victim. The first thing to be done is to get the people away from the injured person. A space of at least ten feet on every side should be kept wholly free from everybody except the one or two who are in charge of the operations for relief. If others are needed to assist in some special duty, as lifting, removing the dress, etc., they can be specially selected from the crowd for the moment and then dismissed. The kindest thing a bystander can do is to insist upon a free space around the injured person, and to select from the crowd those who will hold them¬ selves in readiness to start for whatever the physician or the individual in charge of the case may require. If the person has been thrown from a carriage, injured by a blow, a fall from a height, or in some similar manner, while there may be no evidence of fracture or other external injury, the nervous system has received what is called a “shock,” manifesting itself in faintness or complete unconsciousness. A person suffering with such symptoms should be placed flat on his back, and the limbs at the same time straightened out, if practicable, so that the heart, which is already depressed in action, may act at as little disadvantage as possible. The cravat, collar and everything else calcu¬ lated to impede the circulation toward the head or the movements of the chest should be loosened or removed. If the injury is slight, reaction will soon take place after giving the patient a sip of cold water, brandy (a teaspoonful in a tablespoonful of cold water), or aromatic spirits of am¬ monia (twenty drops in a teaspoonful of cold water), repeated in a few minutes. Gentle friction to the extremities, a few drops of cologne-water on a handkerchief to the nostrils, hot flannels applied to the limbs and epigastrium (pit of the stom¬ ach), are likewise useful in assisting re¬ action. By this time, should a surgeon have ar¬ rived, he will examine and decide upon the special nature of the injury, and inaugu¬ rate measures of special relief. If he has not appeared, and it is thought best to remove the patient to the hospital or his home, a stretcher should be procured, or a substitute in the shape of a settee or shutter. Upon this the injured person should be gently placed, the body being supported as much as possible along its length, and the face covered so as to pre¬ vent, as far as practicable, the uncom¬ fortable feeling of being stared at by passers-by. Four persons of uniform gait should then gently lift the stretcher and slowly carry the person to his destination. In most cities appliances for carrying in¬ jured persons are kept at the station- house, and can be obtained on application, as well as the services of a good police- man. The latter is almost invaluable in keeping away the crowd while conveying the. person through the streets. If the patient is to be taken to the hospital, a dispatch from a police-station would se¬ cure, free of charge, an ambulance with competent attendants. Directions for the treatment of frac¬ tures and dislocations are given elsewhere. Asphyxia. This word commonly signifies an ab¬ sence of respiration. It states a condition, but not the cause, and indicates suspended animation, produced by the non-conversion of the venous blood in the lungs into ar¬ terial. The supply of good air to the lungs being cut off by some cause, the necessary purification at that point no longer takes Always consult the Index when using this book. [5]$