A manual of health science ... / by Andrew Wilson.

  • Andrew Wilson
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of health science ... / by Andrew Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    207/264 (page 187)
    of injury is, in the first place, one which lies incumbent upon all the members of a civilised community. In the second place, it is evident that the bystander, from his proximity to the sufferer, may be, and very frequently is, enabled to render an amount of assistance which far exceeds that the medical man can afford when afterwards he appears on the scene* * First aid,' in other words, promptly applied may save life, when the most efficient surgical or medical aid, rendered later on, can be of no assistance. In a case of apparent drowning, of poisoning, of severe bleeding from a wound, or of choking, for example, the ready aid of the bystander suffices to tide the sufferer over the danger, or may at least place him in circumstances in which he may safely wait the arrival of a medical man. The pith of the motto, ' He gives twice who gives quickly,' is emphatically illustrated in am- bulance work ; and when we add that, for the most part, the details of such work are easily acquired by all who possess even a rudimentary knowledge of anatomy and physiology, we have enumerated the chief points which demand notice in treating the subject of ambulance aid. The treatment of wounds and bleeding may first be de- scribed as dealing with a topic which deserves notice from the frequency with which such accidents occur. There are three kinds of blood-vessels (see chapter ii. p. 30 et seq.) in the human body. These are arteries, veins, and capillaries. The first-named vessels, as already noted, carry pure blood, of light red colour, from the heart to the body. The veins carry dark purple or impure blood fro7n the body to heart and lungs for purification. The capillaries are the minute vessels in which arteries end and veins begin. In the case of injury of an artery (i) the blood escapes in jets from the wound, the jels corresponding to the impulses of the left side of the heart, with which the artery is of course in direct communi- cation ; while (2) the blood is light red in colour. It is clear, therefore, that in such a case pressure must be made be- tween the wound and the heart, so as to arrest the flow of