2. Give demulcent or mucilaginous drinks, as for example, milk, raw egg, one or two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, sweet oil, or barley water—which can be obtained most readily.
3. Give something to produce vomiting, provided the lips are not burned or stained as they are with an acid or alkali. A simple but effectual emetic can be made by mixing two teaspoonfuls of salt or a tablespoon of mustard in a glass of lukewarm water. This may be repeated if necessary.
4. If the patient seems drowsy, suspect opium and keep patient awake at all costs till the doctor arrives.
5. If delirium threatens, dash cold water on the patient's head and face to try to prevent the fit from coming on.
6. When the poison taken has been acid, the antidote should be an alkali, but different poisons require different antidotes, and it would be unwise to trust to one's memory as to the proper one to take in each case. It would be well to have a list of the more common poisons and their antidotes attached to the First Aid Kit, but do not trust to the memory. If a Girl Scout does not know, and if the patient's lips are not stained or burned, give an emetic.
Bandages
Bandages form the most convenient way of keeping dressings on wounds and for making pressure when necessary. They are also used to correct some deformities, but you will not need to concern yourselves with the latter, as this is in the province of doctors.
There are three varieties of bandages which you will need to use and with which you should be familiar: the roller, triangular and four-tailed. The materials used for bandages are absorbent gauze, muslins or flannels. The kind you will use most will be gauze and muslin. The gauze is best to use in dressing wounds because it is pliable and absorbent, and muslin, if you may choose, in applying pressure, because it is firm. In an emergency there will usually be little chance to choose. Anything at hand, as underclothing, sheets, blankets, etc., may be torn into strips or triangles and used. Have the material which is used clean if possible.
The width of the roller bandage depends on the part of the body to be bandaged, from one inch for the little finger to four inches for the body. They can be rolled very well by hand with a little practice, and every Girl Scout should learn to do this or to improvise a bandage roller by running a very stiff wire through a small wooden box and then bending one end on the outside of the box like a handle.
A bandage must be rolled sufficiently tight so that the center will not fall out. By folding one end back and forth a few times to make a core, and then laying the bandaging over one's knees lengthwise of the thigh with the core uppermost, it can be rolled quite tightly and answer every purpose for emergencies.