Volume 1

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dropsy a hot bottle, be very careful to wrap it in flannel, and see that it is not too hot, as in dropsy the skin is very apt to blister, and in paralysis people have often no feeling in the paralysed parts, and so cannot tell when the bottle is too hot. I have seen severe and dangerous burns caused from ignorance of this. In such cases it is better to warm the feet and legs by wrapping them in a warm blanket, than by applying heat directly to the part. Among the many applications which, by the direction of the doctor, you will often be called on to apply to the sick person, are Poultices ; and once for all, let me say to you, that unless you do make these applications properly, you had much better not make them at all. One seldom sees a poultice properly applied except by a trained nurse. Either they are too large or too small, or they are improperly made, and applied often to the wrong place. For example, a cold, wet, dripping poultice, a pound or two in weight, laid on the chest of a poor unfortunate weak creature, panting and gasping for breath, is much more likely to do harm than good; and on the other hand, such a remedy made and applied properly is sure to give instant, and possibly lasting, relief. A good poultice is a very common and a most useful remedy, and every one of you should learn to make it in the very best possible way. To make a linseed poultice, you require linseed meal, boiling water, and a piece of thick brown paper or calico, a piece of mackin- tosh, or cotton wool, a flannel bandage, a bowl and spatula, such as 1 now show you, or a knife. If you are only to poultice the chest, cut your paper or calico like this if a jacket poultice for inflammation of the lungs, then cut it in this way Now, to make the poultice, First be sure the water is quite boiling, then scald the basin to make it perfectly hot; now pour in a sufficient quantity of water to make the poultice, then put m the linseed meal, stirring during the process with a spatula or knife until it is of a proper thickness. Now, turn it out on the cloth, and spread quickly, dipping the spatula now and then in hot water while doing so, to prevent the poultice sticking to the knife. Turn over the edges of the calico on the poultice, and apply