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.

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$(Charcoal) mediately after being brought out from the gas, should be placed on his back, the neck and throat bared, and any other ob¬ stacle to breathing quickly removed. His body should then be quickly stripped, and, if he has not fallen into water on being overpowered by the gas, his head, neck and shoulders should be freely dashed with cold water. Remember, this is not “sprinkling,” as commonly practiced, but a person should stand off some distance with a bowl of cold water, and throic its contents with as much force as possible against the parts. Other bowlfuls should follow as rapidly as possible for half a minute, while one can count thirty slowly, then the dripping water should be dried with a towel. This should be repeated from time to time, as required. Some¬ times, if a brook of water is near, the stripped person might be repeatedly dip¬ ped into it, care being taken, of course, not to dip his face. Artificial respiration should be used as soon as possible. If the person has fallen into water and become chilled, the use of the cold water in this manner should be avoided, as the evaporation of the moisture absorbs more heat than can be manufactured by the exhausted and overpowered system. _ In such a case the person should be put into a warmed bed, while hot applications and artificial respiration should be resorted to at once, as in asphyxia from drowning or hanging. While using artificial respira¬ tion, friction applied to the limbs should be kept up. Charcoal. Carbonic-oxide, a very poisonous gas, is given off during the burning of charcoal, and when inhaled quickly proves fatal. The person soon drops insensible, and dies of asphyxia, in much the same way as when one succumbs to carbonic-acid gas. The treatment recommended for asphyxia from carbonic-acid gas should be carried out at once. Chilblain. The most useful thing for these annoy¬ ing symptoms is to keep away from the fire, and every night, before retiring, bathe the feet in cold water, or rub them with snow. They should then be well dried, without friction. After this, the application of the ordinary compound resin-ointment of the apothecaries is often of use in stimulating the circulation through the part. The efficiency of this ointment can be increased by adding to an ounce of it a couple of drams of oil of turpentine. It may be remarked that per¬ (Coal Gas) sons who suffer in winter from cold feet are often benefited to a surprising degree by bathing them at night, before retiring, in cold water. Such persons should al¬ ways keep their feet away from the fire. Coal Gas. Anthracite and bituminous coal, when burned in a close room (as in the ease of a kitchen shut up for the night with an open stove of burning coals), gives off, to some extent, the peculiar poisonous gas alluded to as coming from burning char¬ coal—carbonic-oxide—as well as other noxious gases. Persons sleeping in such a room, unless awakened as the air be¬ comes fouled, will soon die or be found in a stupor. The treatment should be the same as described for asphyxia from in¬ haling carbonic-acid gas. Contusions. These common injuries are termed “bruises” by most people, and are the only injuries, besides wounds and frac¬ tures, produced by blows or pressure. The injury may be of the simple form—only a slight shaking or jarring of the texture, with no visible change except that result¬ ing from the rupture of the blood-vessels. This is the most frequent. In the more severe but less frequent form, the con¬ tusion means broken blood-vessels and muscles, and tissues between and around them ; the parts are thoroughly crushed, sometimes to a pulp, and damaged be¬ yond recovery. In contusions the first conspicuous symptom is that of shock, which general¬ ly, but not always, is proportionate to the extent of the injury. Thus a crushed finger is attended, as a rule, with much less shock than a crushed hand or foot. Contusion of certain parts, as the larger joints, breasts and other portions of the body, is followed by most severe symp¬ toms of shock. The pain is not always as severe as might at first be thought, for the nerves may be so much injured as to be deprived of their ability to receive and transmit impressions. The quantity of blood escaping from the ruptured vessels depends chiefly upon the size and number of the vessels in¬ jured, but in some degree upon the space in which the blood can accumulate. A single divided vessel in the scalp, owing to the looseness of the tissue in which the vessels are distributed, may permit a sweljing, the result of the escape of blood, extending in area over half of one side of the head. Discoloration is due to the color of the [8]$