Having bathed the eye with vinegar and water for a quarter of an hour, bathe it for another quarter of an hour simply with a little warm water, after which, drop into the eye two or three drops of the best sweet-oil, put on an eye-shade made of three thicknesses of linen rag, covered with green silk, and then do nothing more until the doctor arrive.
If the above rules be not promptly and properly followed out, the child may irreparably lose his eyesight; hence the necessity of conversations of this kind, to tell a mother, provided immediate assistance cannot be obtained, what ought instantly to be done; for moments, in such a case, are precious.
While doing all that I have just recommended, let a surgeon be sent for, as a smart attack of inflammation, of the eye is very apt to follow the burn of lime; but which inflammation will, provided the previous directions have been promptly and efficiently followed out, with appropriate treatment, soon subside.
The above accident is apt to occur to a child who is standing near a building when the slacking of quicklime is going on, and where portions of lime in the form of powder are flying about the air. It would be well not to allow a child to stand about such places, as prevention is always better than cure. Quicklime is sometimes called caustic-lime—it well deserves its name, for it is a burning-lime, and if proper means be not promptly used, will soon burn away the sight.
294. If any other foreign substance should enter the eye, what is the best method of removing it?
If there be grit, or sand, or dust, or particle of coal, or gnat, or a hair, or an eye-lash in the eye, it ought to be tenderly removed by a small tightly-folded paper spill, holding down the lower lid with the fore-finger of the left hand the while; and the eye, if inflamed, should be frequently bathed with warm milk and water; but generally as soon as the cause is removed the effect will cease, and after treatment will be unnecessary.
If a particle of metal be sticking on the cornea of the eye, as it sometimes does, it will require the skilled hand of a surgeon to remove it.
Any foreign substance, however minute, in the eye, is very painful; but a piece of burning lime is excruciating. Shakspeare gives a graphic description of the pain from the presence of any foreign substance, however small, in the eye:—
"Oh heaven!—that there were but a mote in yours,
A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wand'ring hair,
Any annoyance in that precious sense!
Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there,
Your vile intent must needs seem horrible."
295. What ought to be done in a case of choking?