Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Burns venereal nicer by medical treatment. A painful inflammation of the in- guinal glands once being ])resent, the patient should keep (piietly in bed, and apply cooling poultices until the physician arrives. After softening has set in, it is advisable to lance the swelling as early as possible. If necessary, this should be followed by extirpation of the affected glands, as this will essentially shorten the course of the disease and jn'event further complica- tions. The application of bread-poultices, ointment-bandages, etc., often practised after the ulcers are opened, is very inadvisable. Attention may finally be called to the fact that, in soft chancre, it often occurs that there arises at the site of the opened bubo a new, large, chancrous growth (chancrous bubo), which sometimes destroys extensive portions of the skin. The surest preventive against this disagreeable consequence is energetic, operative treatment, consisting in extirpation of the affected lymph-glands. BUBONIC PLAGUE.—See Plague. BUCHU.—The leaves of a species of Barosma, derived from South- African shrubs. The active principles are volatile oils and resins with an active glycosid, barosmin. Buchu is widely used as a stimulant for the mucous membrane of the genito-urinary tract, and has been employed for many years in the treatment of subacute cystitis, prostatitis, and chronic specific urethritis. It is a very disagreeable drug to take, and cannot be recommended on the ground of its palatability. BURNS.—Inj uries caused by contact with fire, hot objects, molten metals, hot water or steam (scalding), or acids or alkalies (cauterisation). Distinction is made between slight, medium, and severe burns ; or burns of the first, second, and third degree. Burning appears cither as reddening of the skin (first degree), blister formation (second degree), or as charring of the skin (third degree). The treatment of injuries sustained by burning varies according to the degree of severity. For reddening of the skin, it is sufficient to powder the affected parts with flour, talcum, zinc oxide, or starch ; or to apply olive-oil, fat, white of egg, vaseline, or lanolin. If blisters are present they should be left unopened, and ointment of boric acid or of zinc oxide applied in order to alleviate the pain by excluding the air. The injured parts should be covered with a quantity of cotton, secured with a bandage. Applications of cold water should be avoided, as they tend to increase the pain. In ever\' case of burning, and especially in the medium and severe forms, it is neces- sary to consult a physician, inasmuch as severe inflammations and lasting suppurations may arise from continued unskilled home-treatment. Severely burned persons must be put in charge of a physician or a hospital without delav. In case of cauterisation of the skin by acids (nitric, sulphuric, carbolic, etc.) the injured parts should first be washed with water, where- upon soda, green soap, chalk, or lime-water should be applied ; for bums$