A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty.

  • Doty, Alvah H. (Alvah Hunt), 1854-1934.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    zance of the patient. As a result of the depression of the circulation, the heat of the body is diminished, the tem- perature in some cases being below the normal register. The respu'ations are sighing in character and irregular, and the patient is restless. These symptoms may continue for a ie^v minutes or a number of hours, and often end in death. In cases which end favorably, there appear, usually within an hour or so, symptoms denoting an increase in the strength of the heart and circulation ; this change is known as reaction, and generally indicates, so far as the shock is concerned, a happy termination. When reaction occurs, the color and warmth gradually return to the skin, the eyes are brighter and the mind clearer; the pulse be- comes stronger, and the symptoms indicate an approach to the normal condition. Vomiting is regarded as a favor- able symptom, and generally denotes reaction. Reaction, however, does not always insure the safety of the patient, as it may be interrupted suddenly by haemor- rhage or failure of the heart and death; or, in injuries about the head, the reaction may be so intense as to go beyond the normal activity of the circulation, and produce seri- ous cerebral diseases, such as congestion or inflammation of the brain; for this reason the patient should be care- fully watched, and excessive reaction obviated by posi- tion, quiet, cold applications to the head, and wannth to the extremities. Cases of shock from severe injuries, associated with complete unconsciousness, almost always prove fatal. Treatment.—It will only be necessary to refer to the condition indicated by shock to clearly understand the means necessary to bring about reaction; consequently, whatever can safely be used to stimulate the heart and circulation constitutes the proper treatment. As an illus- tration, we will suppose that a man has been injured by a railway accident and is found in a condition of shock. Whoever is to attend to the case should at once loosen