To make a mustard plaster. Have ready a piece of old muslin (a piece of an old nightgown will do) two inches wide and two inches longer than twice the length of the poultice required. On one end of it, with a margin of an inch on three sides, place a piece of oiled paper or shelf paper or a piece of clean paper bag, the size you wish the poultice to be. Mix one tablespoonful of mustard with 8 tablespoonfuls of flour, before wetting. Have water about as hot as the hand can stand. Do not use boiling water. Stir the water into the mustard and flour gradually so that it will not lump. Make the paste stiff enough to spread thinly on the paper, about a quarter of an inch thick. Turn the margins of the cloth over the paste. Fold the long end over so that all the paste is covered and tuck the end under the turned-in edges of the sides. Fold it and take it to the patient in a hot towel or between hot plates. The skin where it is to be placed should be oiled. Test the heat by holding it against the back of your own hand. Put on slowly and leave for two minutes. Watch and remove sooner if the skin becomes reddened or if it is uncomfortable. After removing wipe away the moisture from the skin and cover with a soft piece of muslin, and place a piece of flannel over that. A blister after a mustard paste shows very careless nursing. Never let a patient go to sleep with a mustard plaster on.
ADMINISTERING AN INHALATION
Fomentations or stupes are pieces of flannel wrung out of very hot water and placed on the skin. They should be two or three times as large as the part to be treated, and should be applied as hot as the patient can bear them, without burning the skin. Have two sets, so that one set will be ready to put on when the other is taken off. The stupes should be wrung as dry as possible and as they must be very hot to do any good, a fomentation wringer is a great protection for the hands. One may be made by putting halves of a broom handle through the ends of a short roller towel in the middle of which the fomentation has been placed. By twisting the sticks in the opposite direction the fomentation can be wrung very dry. Take it to the bed in the wringer and do not open until ready to place on the skin, as it will lose its heat very quickly. Put a little oil or vaseline on the skin and apply the fomentation gradually. Cover with a dry flannel and put wadding over that. A piece of oiled skin or oiled paper between the wadding and the dry flannel helps to keep in the heat and moisture. Hold in place with a towel or binder pinned tightly.
Cold is applied by means of ice bags and by cold compresses. In filling an ice bag the ice should be in small pieces, and the bag not too full. Expel the air as from a hot water bag. Cover with a towel or a cover for the purpose. Never put the rubber near the skin, it may freeze if so left. Besides, the cover absorbs the moisture that collects on the outside as the ice melts.
Cold compresses are a common remedy for headache. Old handkerchiefs are excellent for this purpose. Fold in frayed edges, two or three thicknesses will be heavy enough, and have two, large enough to cover the forehead. Wring one out of ice water so that it will not drip, and put on the forehead. Keep the other on a piece of ice and change the two applications frequently. When applied to the neck a dry cloth should be placed outside to protect the pillow or the patient's clothing. Cold compresses for inflamed eyes should be of one thickness only, and a little larger than the eye. Have a number and change very often. Use a separate compress for each eye. If there is a discharge a compress should not be used a second time. The discarded compresses should be collected in a paper bag or wrapped in newspapers and burned.
When cold compresses are applied to the head there should be a hot water bag at the feet.
Gargles, sprays, and inhalations are often ordered for sore throats and colds.
Salt or soda added to water in the proportion of a teaspoonful to a pint makes an excellent gargle.
A very cold gargle or one as hot as can be held without burning is better than a tepid one.