It should be left on until the skin is distinctly red. The length of time will depend, of course, upon the strength of the mustard. Mustard pastes may be put on every three hours, if necessary, and they may be used for a week at this interval if the conditions demand it.
If they are used in pneumonia or other pulmonary diseases, they should be used large enough to go around the whole chest. If they are used in heart failure, they should be big enough to cover the whole trunk.
When made with the white of an egg they will not blister. Or if the part is rubbed with white vaseline before applying, it will not blister and it will be just as effective. When a mustard paste is removed the red area should be rubbed with white vaseline and covered with a clean piece of flannel.
How to Prepare and Use the Mustard Pack.—The child is stripped and laid upon a blanket, and the trunk is surrounded by a large towel or sheet saturated with mustard water. This is prepared as follows: Take one tablespoonful of English mustard and dissolve it in one quart of water, slightly warmed. Saturate a towel in this mixture and apply to the body of the child while it is dripping. The patient is then rolled in a blanket. Keep the child in this pack for ten or fifteen minutes. The mustard pack is not as good as the mustard bath, but it is all that is necessary in a number of various conditions. The physician will, of course, decide these matters. It is simply the duty of the mother to know how to carry out the physician's instructions.
The Turpentine Stupe.—Take a piece of flannel, big enough to cover the area which it is desired to affect, wring it out of as hot water as it is possible. Upon this sprinkle twenty drops of spirits of turpentine. Place the stupe wherever it is desired and cover with a piece of oiled silk or dry flannel. The turpentine stupe is mostly used in pain of the abdominal cavity. In colic from acute indigestion it is a very convenient means of quieting the child by allaying the pain.
Care should be taken not to allow this form of application to remain on too long. Take it off when the skin is red. For continuous use it is not as good as the mustard paste.
OILED SILK. WHAT IT IS, AND WHY IT IS USED
Oiled silk is sold in the drug stores by the yard. It is one yard wide. It is used to cover any local application to prevent evaporation into the air or to prevent the clothing from absorbing the medicament. If a liniment is applied on cloth to effect a certain result, it may take some time to do its work. If the wet cloth is covered with the clothing, the clothing will absorb the medicine quicker than the body will and thereby defeat the object in view, in addition to rendering the clothing wet and nasty. If the application is covered with oiled silk it cannot escape into the clothing, because the oiled silk is impervious. The body will be compelled to absorb the medicine and consequently results will be quicker and more certain. Many liniments are expensive; to permit them to be absorbed by the clothing is needless waste It is therefore economical to apply the oiled silk.