Treatment.—Properly fitting footgear must be worn—broad at the toes with low heels and of sufficient length. If pus ("matter") forms, the cut edge should be raised up by pushing in a little absorbent cotton under the nail every day. Hot poultices of flaxseed meal, or other material will relieve any special pain and inflammation. Soaking the foot frequently in hot water, and observing especial cleanliness, will aid recovery. Tannic acid, or some antiseptic powder like nosophen, should be dusted along the edge of the nail, and the flesh crowded away from the nail by pushing in a little cotton with some tannic acid upon it.
If there is a raw surface about the border of the nail, powdered lead nitrate may be dusted upon it each morning for four or five days, till the ulcerated tissue shrinks away and the edge of the nail becomes visible. The toe should be covered with absorbent cotton and a bandage. As soon as the toe is really inflamed the case becomes surgical, and as such demands the care of a surgeon when one can be obtained.
FAINTING.
First Aid Rule 1.—Remove impediments to respiration. Remove collar, loosen all waist bands and cords, unhook corset or cut the laces at person's back.
Rule 2.—Assist heart and brain with blood pressure. Put cushion under buttocks, wind skirt close about legs, and raise feet in air. Wait ten seconds.
Rule 3.—Aid respiration. Put mild smelling salts under nose. Spatter cold water in face.
SUFFOCATION FROM GAS IN WELLS, CISTERNS, OR MINES, OR FROM ILLUMINATING GAS.
First Aid Rule 1.—Remove quickly into pure air.
Rule 2.—Resuscitate as if drowned. Open his mouth, grasp his tongue, pull it forward and keep it there. Let another assistant grasp the arms just below the elbows, and draw them steadily upward by the sides of the patient's head to the ground, the hands nearly meeting, which enlarges the capacity of the chest and induces inspiration. (See pp. [30] and [31].) While this is being done, let a third assistant take position astride the patient's hips with his elbows resting on his own knees, his hands extended ready for action. Next, let the assistant standing at the head turn down the patient's arms to the sides of his body, the assistant holding the tongue, changing hands if necessary to let the arms pass.
Just before the patient's hands reach the ground, the man astride the body will grasp the body with his hands, the ball of the thumb resting on either side of the pit of the stomach, the fingers falling into the grooves between the short ribs. Now, using his knees as a pivot, he will, at the moment the patient's hands touch the ground, throw (not too suddenly) his whole weight forward on his hands, and at the same time squeeze the waist between them, as if he wished to force something in the chest upward out of the mouth; he will deepen the pressure while he slowly counts one, two, three, four (about five seconds), then suddenly lets go with a final push, which will send him back to his first position. This completes expiration. A child or a delicate person must be more gently handled.