warmly, and undressed under blankets, without exposure or avoidable moving. His head should be low, and as quickly as possible hot water bags should be placed near but not upon him. If the patient is conscious and able to swallow he should be given hot coffee or aromatic spirits of ammonia, one teaspoonful in half a glass of water. The legs and arms should be rubbed from the extremities toward the heart, but care should be taken to avoid touching or moving injured parts. The patient should stay in bed, warmly covered and closely watched for some time after he has apparently recovered.
Helping a patient into bed is not necessarily the first thing to be done in every case of sudden illness. Great harm may be done by the injudicious moving of injured persons, and often it is safer to make a person comfortable with pillows and blankets where he happens to be, certainly until a sufficient number of people can be found to lift him properly. Clothing should be removed carefully, and one should not hesitate to cut it away if undressing is painful or necessitates much moving.
Stimulants
, in emergency work, are frequently misused. They should not be given when the head has been injured, when bleeding is profuse, or when the face is red and the pulse strong.
Neither should attempts be made to give fluids of any kind to patients not sufficiently conscious to swallow. Safe stimulants to use are black coffee, tea, or aromatic spirits of ammonia. Alcoholic liquors should not be given unless prescribed by a physician.
Sunstroke and heat exhaustion
are both caused by excessive heat either indoors or out, but they differ both in symptoms and in treatment.
Sunstroke or heat stroke, usually begins with acute pain in the head, followed almost immediately by loss of consciousness. The skin is dry and very hot, the face is red or purple, the pupils are dilated, the breathing is difficult, the pulse is slow, and the temperature high.
Treatment consists in sending for the doctor, removing the patient to a cool place, undressing him and applying cold, especially to the head and spine, or still better, placing him in a very cold bath. The body should be rubbed constantly in the direction of the heart. Stimulants should not be given.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion, on the other hand, resemble those of shock. The doctor should be summoned, and the patient should be removed to a cool and quiet place, where he should stay warmly covered in a reclining position. Stimulants should be given, hot water bags applied, and