Backwoods Surgery & Medicine

by Charles Stuart Moody

The first thing to do when a person is rescued from the water is to remove all clothing from about the chest and neck. Do not take the time to draw the garments off, but rip them off with a knife. Turn the body over and stand astride it. Grasp it about the middle and lift up so that only the head and feet are touching the ground. This is done in order to free the lungs and air passages from water and mucus. Do this several times.

With a handkerchief wipe out the mouth and as far down the throat as you can reach. Lay the patient on his back with a folded coat under his shoulders. Kneel at his head and grasp both arms at the wrists and pull them well up over his head, hold for an instant, return to the sides and press them against the ribs, hold for an instant and repeat. Do this about twenty times each minute.

The tendency is to work too fast. The movement should be about as fast as a man breathes, the object being to simulate the ordinary respiratory movements as nearly as may be. While this is being done another person may grasp the tongue and pull it up and out of the mouth, keeping time with the movements of the arms. When the patient begins to show signs of life wrap him well in hot blankets, place hot stones at his feet, and administer hot water, brandy, or strong hot coffee.

As before suggested, the efforts at restoration should be persisted in for a long time, until either success rewards your efforts or the body becomes quite cold and rigid. It may be that there is a little spark of life left and you may fan it into flame after hours of effort.

There are many minor accidents for which it is well to be prepared. For example, to remove a fish hook: Do not try to pull it back; push it on through, file or break off the barb and it can be removed readily.

To remove foreign bodies from the eye: First cocainize the eye by dropping a few drops of a solution made by dissolving one of the cocaine tablets in a half teaspoonful of water, then turn the lid back over a match telling the person to look down at the same time, and brush the substance off with a soft cloth. If it is under the lower lid place your forefinger on his cheek just beneath the eye, pull down, and tell him to look up. If it adheres to the eyeball, as in the case of a cinder or a small piece of steel, after cocainizing the eye remove with a sharp knife by brushing.

Insects sometimes crawl into the ear and make a lot of commotion. Place the patient on his side with that ear uppermost and pour plenty of warm water into the ear. By plenty I mean several quarts. The bug will crawl out or be washed out by the returning stream of water.

Burns well characterized toothache as "Thou hell of a' diseases." If the tooth has a cavity (as it probably has), a small crystal of cocaine dropped dry into the cavity and covered with a little pledget of cotton will give immediate relief.

For bleeding from the nose, place a pledget of cotton in each nostril, lay the patient on his face, and pour cold water over the back of the neck. Leave the cotton there for several hours. The idea is that the fibrin in the blood becomes entangled in the fiber of the cotton and sets up a clot that seals the bleeding surface, while the cold water closes the blood supply by its action on the artery supplying the parts.

Hiccough is a distressing and sometimes a dangerous complaint. Many times a swallow of water will stop it. If simple measures fail, the following has been found very efficacious. The nerves that produce hiccough are near the surface in the neck. They may be reached and compressed by placing two fingers right in the center of the top of the breastbone between the two cords that run up either side of the neck and pressing inward, downward, and outward. A few minutes' pressure of this kind will stop the most obstinate hiccough.