The Home Medical Library Volume I Part 1

The Home Medical Library.

Volume I.

by Various.

Preface

Medicine, as the art of preserving and restoring health, is the rightful office of the great army of earnest and qualified American physicians. But their utmost sincerity and science are hampered by trying restrictions with three great cla.s.ses of people: those on whom the family physician cannot call _every day_; those on whom he cannot call _in time_; and those on whom he cannot call _at all_.

To lessen these restrictions, thus a.s.sisting and extending the healer's work, is the aim of the pages that follow.

Consider first the average American household, where the family physician cannot call _every day_. Not a day finds this household without the need of information in medicine or hygiene or sanitation.

More efforts of the profession are thwarted by ignorance than by epidemic. Not to supplant the doctor, but to supplement him, carefully prepared information should be at hand on the hygiene of health--sanitation, diet, exercise, clothing, baths, etc.; on the hygiene of disease--nursing and sick-room conduct, control of the nervous and insane, emergency resources, domestic remedies; above all, on the prevention of disease, emphasizing the folly of self-treatment; pointing out the danger of delay in seeking skilled medical advice with such troubles as cancer, where early recognition may bring permanent cure; showing the benefit of simple sanitary precautions, such as the experiment-stations method of exterminating the malaria-breeding mosquito. The volumes treating of these subjects cannot be made too clear, nontechnical, fundamental, or too well guarded by the supervision of medical men known favorably to the profession.

Again, the physician cannot come _on time_ to save life, limb, or looks to the victim of many a serious accident. And yet some bystander could usually understand and apply plain rules for inducing respiration, applying a splint, giving an emetic, soothing a burn or the like, so as to safeguard the sufferer till the doctor's arrival--if only these plain rules were in such compact form that no office, store, or home in the land need be without them.

Finally, the doctor _cannot come at all_ to hundreds of thousands of sailors, automobilists, and other travelers, to ranchers, miners, and country dwellers of many sorts. This third cla.s.s has had, hitherto, little choice between some "Practice of Medicine," too technical to be helpful, on the one hand, and on the other, the dubious literature of unsanctioned "systems"; or the startling "cure-all" a.s.sertions emanating from many proprietors of remedies; or "Complete Family Physicians," which offer prescriptions as absurd for the layman as would be dynamite in the hands of a child, with superfluous and loathsome pictures appealing only to morbid curiosity, and with a general inaccuracy utterly out of touch with twentieth-century knowledge. What such people need, much more than the dwellers in settled communities, is to learn the views of modern medicine upon the treatment of the ever-present common ailments--the use of standard remedies, cautions against the abuse of narcotics, lessons of discrimination against harmful, useless, or expensive "patent medicines," and proper rules of conduct for diet, nursing, and general treatment.

Authentic health literature existed abundantly before the preparation of these volumes, but it was scattered, expensive, and in most cases not arranged for the widest use. Not within our knowledge has the body of facts, most helpful to the layman on Sanitation and Hygiene, First Aid, and Domestic Healing, been brought together as completely, as clearly, as concisely, with a critical editing board so qualified, and with special contributions so authoritative as this work exhibits.

"Utmost caution" has been a watchword with the editors from the start.

Those to whom the doctor _cannot come every day_ have been repeatedly warned of the follies of self-treatment, and reminded that to-day it is the patient that is treated--not the disease. Those to whom the doctor _cannot come in time_ are likewise warned that the "First-aid Rules" of this Library are for temporary treatment only, in all situations where it is possible to get a physician. And the utmost conservatism has been striven for by the author and the several revisers in every part of the work that appeals particularly to dwellers in localities so removed that the doctor _cannot come at all_. Especial delicacy was also sought in the treatment of a chapter which, it is hoped, will aid parents to guide their children in s.e.xual matters. The ill.u.s.trations represent helpful, normal conditions (with the exception of some necessary representations of fracture, etc.) with instructive captions aimed to make them less a sensation than a real benefit; and no pictures appear of a sort to stimulate mere morbid curiosity.

The greatest sympathy and appreciation of this work have been shown by the progressive and recognized pract.i.tioners who have seen early copies. They recognize it as a timely attempt to create and compile health literature in a form most complete within its limits of s.p.a.ce, and in a manner most helpful and sane. The eager curiosity regarding _themselves_ that has been sweeping over the American people has been diverted into frivolous and harmful channels by much reckless talk and writing. A prominent newspaper, in its Sunday editions, recently took up the a.s.sertion, in a series of articles, that appendicitis operations resulted from a gigantic criminal conspiracy on the part of surgeons; that a sufficient cure for appendicitis, "as any honest doctor would tell you," is an injection of mola.s.ses and water! The endless harm done by such outright untruth is swelled by a joining stream of slapdash misinformation and vicious sensation, constantly running through the press.

Education is sorely needed from authority. People _will_ read about their bodies. They have a right to information from the highest accredited source. And to apply such knowledge Dr. Winslow has labored for many years during his practicing experience, condensing and setting into clear order the most vitally important facts of domestic disease and treatment; an eminently qualified staff of practicing specialists has cooperated, with criticism and supervision of incalculable value to the reader; and the accepted cla.s.sics in their field follow: Dr. Weir Mitch.e.l.l's elegant and inspiring essays on Nerves, Outdoor Life, etc.; Sir Henry Thompson's "precious doc.u.ments of personal experience" on Diet and Conduct for Long Life; Dr. Dudley A. Sargent's scientific and long-prepared system of exercises without apparatus; Gerhard's clear principles of pure water supply; Dr.

Darlington's notes and editing from the unequaled opportunity of a New York City Health Commissioner--and many other "special contributions."

It is the widely accepted modern medicine, and no school or "system,"

that is reflected here. While medicine, as a science, is far from being perfect, partly because of faulty traditions and misinterpreted experience, yet the aim of the modern school is to base practice on _facts_. For example, for many years physicians were aware that quinine cured malaria, in some unexplainable way. Now they not only know that malaria is caused by an animal parasite living and breeding in the blood and that quinine destroys the foe, but they know about the parasite's habits and mode of development and when it most readily succ.u.mbs to the drug. Thus a great discovery taught them to give quinine understandingly, at the right time, and in the right doses.

An educated physician has at his command all knowledge, past and present, pertaining to medicine. He is free to employ any means to better his patient. Now it is impossible to cure, or even better, all who suffer from certain disease by any one method, and a follower of a special "system" thus ignores many agencies which might prove efficient in his case. While there is a germ of good and truth in the various "systems" of medical practice, their representatives possess no knowledge unknown to science or to the medical profession at large.

Many persons are always attracted by "something new." But newness in a medical sect is too often newness in name only. These systems rise and fall, but scientific, legitimate medicine goes ever onward with an eye single to the discovery of new facts.

That these volumes will result in an impetus to saner, quieter, steadier living, and will prove a helpful friend to many a physician and many a layman, is the earnest wish of

THE PUBLISHERS.

Part I

FIRST AID IN EMERGENCIES

BY

KENELM WINSLOW

AND

ALBERT WARREN FERRIS

_Introductory Note_

With the exception of the opening chapter, which contains the valuable Life-saving Service Rules _verbatim_, the Editors have adopted the plan of beginning each article in Part I of this volume with a few simple, practical instructions, telling the reader exactly what to do in case of an accident. For the purpose of distinguishing them from the ordinary text, and making them easy of reference, these _"First-aid Rules" are printed in light-faced type_.

CHAPTER I

=Restoring the Apparently Drowned=

_As Practiced in the United States Life-Saving Service_

NOTE.--These directions differ from those given in the last revision of the Regulations by the addition of means for securing deeper inspiration. The method heretofore published, known as the Howard, or direct method, has been productive of excellent results in the practice of the service, and is retained here. It is, however, here arranged for practice in combination with the Sylvester method, the latter producing deeper inspiration than any other known method, while the former effects the most complete expiration. The combination, therefore, tends to produce the most rapid oxygenation of the blood--the real object to be gained. The combination is prepared primarily for the use of life-saving crews where a.s.sistants are at hand. A modification of Rule III, however, is published as a guide in cases where no a.s.sistants are at hand and one person is compelled to act alone. In preparing these directions the able and exhaustive report of Messrs. J. Collins Warren, M.D., and George B. Shattuck, M.D., committee of the Humane Society of Ma.s.sachusetts, embraced in the annual report of the society for 1895-96, has been availed of, placing the department under many obligations to these gentlemen for their valuable suggestions.

=IF SEVERAL a.s.sISTANTS ARE AT HAND.=

RULE I. _Arouse the Patient._--Do not move the patient unless in danger of freezing; instantly expose the face to the air, toward the wind if there be any; wipe dry the mouth and nostrils; rip the clothing so as to expose the chest and waist; give two or three quick, smarting slaps on the chest with the open hand.

If the patient does not revive, proceed immediately as follows:

RULE II. _To Expel Water from the Stomach and Chest_ (see Fig.

1).--Separate the jaws and keep them apart by placing between the teeth a cork or small bit of wood, turn the patient on his face, a large bundle of tightly rolled clothing being placed beneath the stomach; press heavily on the back over it for half a minute, or as long as fluids flow freely from the mouth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.

TO EXPEL WATER FROM STOMACH AND CHEST.

Patient lying face downward; roll of clothes beneath stomach; jaws separated by piece of wood or cork; note rescuer pressing on back to force out water.]

RULE III. _To Produce Breathing_ (see Figs. 2 and 3).--Clear the mouth and throat of mucus by introducing into the throat the corner of a handkerchief wrapped closely around the forefinger; turn the patient on the back, the roll of clothing being so placed as to raise the pit of the stomach above the level of the rest of the body. Let an a.s.sistant, with a handkerchief or piece of dry cloth, draw the tip of the tongue out of one corner of the mouth (which prevents the tongue from falling back and choking the entrance to the windpipe), and keep it projecting a little beyond the lips. Let another a.s.sistant grasp the arms, just below the elbows, and draw them steadily upward by the sides of the patient's head to the ground, the hands nearly meeting (which enlarges the capacity of the chest and induces inspiration).

(Fig. 2.) While this is being done let a third a.s.sistant take position astride the patient's hips with his elbows resting upon his own knees, his hands extended ready for action. Next, let the a.s.sistant standing at the head turn down the patient's arms to the sides of the body, the a.s.sistant holding the tongue changing hands if necessary[1] to let the arms pa.s.s. Just before the patient's hands reach the ground the man astride the body will grasp the body with his hands, the b.a.l.l.s of the thumb resting on either side of the pit of the stomach, the fingers falling into the grooves between the short ribs. Now, using his knees as a pivot, he will, at the moment the patient's hands touch the ground, throw (not too suddenly) all his weight forward on his hands, and at the same time squeeze the waist between them, as if he wished to force something in the chest upward out of the mouth; he will deepen the pressure while he slowly counts one, two, three, four (about five seconds), then suddenly let go with a final push, which will spring him back to his first position.[2] This completes expiration. (Fig. 3.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.

TO PRODUCE BREATHING.

First Position: Patient lying face upward; roll of clothes under back; tongue pulled out of mouth with handkerchief; note rescuer drawing arms upward to sides of head to start act of breathing in.]