OCCASIONAL NOTES.
BURNS AND SCALDS.
There are very few homes whose inmates have not at some time or other suffered more or less severely from the effects of a burn; there are few persons who ever forget the severity of the pain that succeeds a bad burn; and yet there are very few who make any provision for the proper treatment of such wounds. This neglect arises from indifference or from ignorance, but chiefly the latter. A burn treated in time does not take nearly so long to heal, and generally heals better than it otherwise would. The object of the present paper is to make familiar a few of the remedies which are generally applied to burns—remedies so simple in themselves that they can be applied by any person.
The best thing to apply to a burned or scalded part is Carron oil spread on lint or linen. The main object in the treatment of a burn is to keep the affected part out of contact with the air; but the part of the treatment to which our attention should be first directed is that which will lessen or remove the pain. Ice or cold water is sometimes used; and sometimes water moderately warm, or a gentle heat, gives relief. Carron oil—so called from the famous Carron ironworks, where it is extensively used—not only lessens the immediate pain, but covers the part with a film which effectually shuts out the air and prevents the skin getting dry.
This Carron oil can be prepared in a very simple way. It consists of equal parts of olive oil and lime-water. Olive oil, or salad or Lucca oil, is the oil best suited for the purpose; but if not easily obtainable, linseed oil answers the purpose very well. Lime-water can be easily made by any one, if it cannot be procured otherwise. About a teaspoonful of the lime used by builders—if the purer kind is not obtainable—added to a pint of water and well shaken, is all that is required. It is then allowed to settle, and the water when required is drawn off without disturbing the sediment at the bottom. Pour the oil on the lime-water, stir or shake well, and the mixture is ready for use. It is poured freely between two folds of lint, or the lint dipped in the mixture; the lint applied to the wound, and held in position by a bandage. The wound may be dressed twice a day; but in dressing, the wound should be exposed to the air the shortest possible time. If the lint adheres to the wound, it must not be pulled off, but first moistened thoroughly with the oil, when it comes off easily. In some cases, it is not advisable to remove the lint. Under such circumstances, the best way to proceed is to lift up one fold of the lint, drop the oil within the folds, replace the fold as before, and secure the bandage. Carron oil is one of those things that no household should be at any time without.
Considering the simplicity of the cure, how easily olive oil and lime-water can be obtained, let us hope that for the sake of relieving even a few minutes’ pain, no reader of this paper will be in the future without a bottle of Carron oil.
INTERESTING DISCOVERY AT ROME.
A beautiful statue of Bacchus has recently been discovered in a hollow place beneath the staircase in the library at Hadrian’s Villa, Rome. It represents the god not as the coarse dissipated old man, but according to his later aspect, as a beautiful effeminate youth. It is singularly well preserved, the right hand only being missing. Its great beauty was at once recognised, and casts were immediately made, one of which is at Berlin, another at Strassburg, and a third in the new Cast Museum of Sculpture at Cambridge. The statue represents a youth standing with the weight of the body thrown on the right leg; the right hand is raised, and held, it is supposed, the two-handled wine-cup or kantharos of Bacchus. Over the right shoulder is thrown a nebris (fawn-skin), which falls back and front with studied symmetry. A question has arisen amongst the learned on these subjects as to whether this beautiful work of ancient art is itself an original, or a copy in marble from a bronze original. And then comes the still more important inquiry, what is its date? Professor Michaelis—a noted authority—states his opinion that ‘the statue is a work of the eclectic school, the post-Alexandrian manner which selected and combined, and advisedly imitated, the style of bygone manners, which sought to revive the manner of the best Attic and Argive work;’ and which the learned professor fancies he can discern by certain peculiar appearances and treatment, and a want of harmony in many minute details, which, however, could hardly occur to any ordinary spectator, who sees before him simply an exquisitely finished and beautiful work of antique art.
TELEPHONING EXTRAORDINARY.
The most remarkable piece of telephoning yet attempted has been just accomplished by the engineers of the ‘International Bell Telephone Company,’ who successfully carried out an experiment by which they were enabled to hold a conversation between St Petersburg and Bologæ, a distance of two thousand four hundred and sixty-five miles. Blake transmitting, and Bell receiving, instruments were used, and conversation was kept up notwithstanding a rather high induction. The experiments were carried on during the night, when the telegraph lines were not at work. The Russian engineers of this Company are so confident of further success that they hope shortly to be able to converse with ease at a distance of four thousand six hundred and sixty-five miles; but to accomplish this astonishing feat they must combine all the conditions favourable for the transmission of telephonic sounds. If it is found possible to hold audible conversation at such extraordinary distances, it is possible that this fact will be speedily improved upon, and we shall be enabled to converse freely between London and New York, and by-and-by between London and the antipodes.