After reaction has taken place, the sweating should be maintained for twelve hours, and the patient should drink slippery-elm tea and toast-water, and partake sparingly of soft toasted bread and chicken broth. The food should be fluid and nutritious, but taken in small quantities. Do not disturb the bowels with laxatives until the third day after the patient begins to improve, and then they may be moved by an injection of warm water. Great care should be taken that the patient does not indulge too soon or too freely in the use of food. When a skillful physician can be had, no time should be lost in securing his services, but since in epidemics of this nature, medical men are generally overworked, and not always easily and promptly to be had, we have been quite explicit in giving full directions for treatment.
Cholera Morbus, also known as sporadic cholera and simple cholera, usually occurs during the summer months. The attack may be sudden, although it is usually preceded by a sensation of uneasiness and colicky pains in the stomach.
Symptoms. Nausea, vomiting and purging are the most prominent symptoms. The discharge from the bowels is at first of a thin, yellow appearance, but finally it becomes almost colorless. Sometimes, after the contents proper of the bowels have been evacuated, the dejections have a bilious appearance. Severe cramps and pain accompany the vomiting. The vomiting and purging usually occur in paroxysms, but finally become less frequent, a reaction takes place, the extremities grow warm, and the patient gradually recovers. It may be accompanied by intense thirst and a quick pulse, yet the surface may be cool.
Causes. Cholera morbus is most prevalent in warm climates, and especially in malarial districts. It is generally the result of eating indigestible articles of food, such as unripe fruit or uncooked vegetables. Stimulating drinks, or those articles which furnish the elements for fermentation, also favor the production of this disease.
Treatment. If the attack be superinduced by eating unripe or stale fruit, it may be proper to give an emetic or a cathartic, but ordinarily first give a full dose of the Extract of Smart-weed, and, if the vomited matter is very sour, give the patient a weak, alkaline drink, which may be made by dropping a few live, hard-wood coals into a tumbler of water. This will not only assist in neutralizing the acidity of the stomach, but will help to allay the thirst and accompanying fever. If the patient throw up the first dose of the Extract of Smart-weed, a second should be given. Do not allow the patient to drink cold water, and give only tablespoonful doses of the alkaline solution every thirty minutes. If the thirst is great, occasionally give a tablespoonful of a tea made from scorched Indian meal, which not only allays the desire to drink, but also the irritation of the stomach. If to be obtained, give a tea of the leaves or bark of the peach tree. The patient should be well covered in bed and kept warm. Laudanum by the stomach, or by enema, may he necessary in severe cases to relieve the pain and check the purging. Hot fomentations applied to the bowels are very valuable. A mustard plaster applied over the abdomen will assist materially in relieving the nausea and vomiting. It should not be left on sufficiently long to blister. When the affection is promptly treated as we have suggested, the patient generally quickly recovers. If, however, it does not yield to these measures, the family physician should be called in.
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES.
Accidents and emergencies which require immediate attention frequently occur. Professional aid cannot always be quickly obtained and hence fatal results often follow. It is, therefore, important that all persons should not only know how to proceed under such circumstances, but that they should be able to exercise that deliberation and self-control so necessary in emergencies of all kinds. Most persons are more or less affected by the sight of blood or severe wounds, and it requires an effort to maintain self-possession. One should act resolutely; otherwise he will find himself overcome and unable to render any assistance.
WOUNDS.
Wounds may be classified as incised, punctured, contused, lacerated, or poisoned.
Incised wounds are those which are made with a sharp, cutting instrument, and are characterized by their extent of surface.