The general causes of swoonings are, sudden transition from cold to heat; breathing air that is deprived of its proper spring or elasticity; great fatigue; excessive weakness; loss of blood; long fasting; fear, grief, and other violent passions or affections of the mind.
It is well known, that persons who have been long exposed to cold, often faint or fall into a swoon, upon coming into the house, especially if they drink hot liquor, or sit near a large fire. This might easily be prevented by people taking care not to go into a warm room immediately after they have been exposed to the cold air, to approach the fire gradually, and not to eat or drink any thing hot, till the body has been gradually brought into a warm temperature.
When any one, in consequence of neglecting these precautions, falls into a swoon, he ought immediately to be removed to a cooler apartment, to have ligatures applied above his knees and elbows, and to have his hands and face sprinkled with vinegar or cold water. He should likewise be made to smell to vinegar, and should have a spoonful or two of water, if he can swallow, with about a third part of vinegar mixed with it, poured into his mouth. If these should not remove the complaint, it will be necessary to bleed the patient, and afterwards to give him a clyster.
As air that is breathed frequently loses its elasticity or spring, it is no wonder if persons who respire in it often fall into a swoon or fainting fit. They are in this case deprived of the very principle of life. Hence it is that fainting fits are so frequent in all crowded assemblies, especially in hot seasons. Such fits however must be considered as a kind of temporary death; and, to the weak and delicate, they sometimes prove fatal. They ought therefore with the utmost care to be guarded against. The method of doing this is obvious. Let assembly-rooms, and all other places of public resort, be large and well ventilated; and let the weak and delicate avoid such places, particularly in warm seasons.
A person who faints, in such a situation, ought immediately to be carried into the open air; his temples should be rubbed with strong vinegar or brandy, and volatile spirits of salts held to his nose. He should be laid upon his back with his head low, and have a little wine, or some other cordial, as soon as he is able to swallow it, poured into his mouth. If the person has been subject to hysteric fits, castor or asafœtida should be applied to the nose, or burnt feathers, horn, or leather, &c.
When fainting fits proceed from mere weakness or exhaustion, which is often the case after great fatigue, long fasting, loss of blood, or the like, the patient must be supported with generous cordials, as jellies, wines, spirituous liquors, &c. These however must be given at first in very small quantities, and increased gradually as the patient is able to bear them. He ought to be allowed to lie quite still and easy upon his back, with his head low, and should have fresh air admitted into his chamber. His food should consist of nourishing broths, sago-gruel with wine, new milk, and other things of a light and cordial nature. These things are to be given out of the fit. All that can be done in the fit is, to let him smell to a bottle of Hungary-water, eau de luce, or spirits of hartshorn, and to rub his temples with warm brandy, or to lay a compress dipped in it to the pit of the stomach.
In fainting fits that proceed from fear, grief, or other violent passions or affections of the mind, the patient must be very cautiously managed. He should be suffered to remain at rest, and only made to smell to some vinegar. After he is come to himself he may drink freely of warm lemonade, or balm-tea, with some orange or lemon-peel in it. It will likewise be proper, if the fainting fits have been long and severe, to clean the bowels by throwing in an emollient clyster.
It is common in fainting fits, from whatever cause they proceed, to bleed the patient. This practice may be very proper in strong persons of a full habit; but in those who are weak and delicate, or subject to nervous disorders, it is dangerous. The proper method with such people is, to expose them to the free air, and to use cordial and stimulating medicines, as volatile salts, Hungary-water, spirits of lavender, tincture of castor, and the like.
OF FLATULENCIES, OR WIND.
All nervous patients, without exception, are afflicted with wind or flatulencies in the stomach and bowels, which arise chiefly from the want of tone or vigour in these organs. Crude flatulent aliment, as green peas, beans, coleworts, cabbages, and such like, may increase this complaint; but strong and healthy people are seldom troubled with wind, unless they either overload their stomachs, or drink liquors that are in a fermenting state, and consequently full of elastic air. While therefore the matter of flatulence proceeds from our aliments, the cause which makes air separate from them in such quantity as to occasion complaints, is almost always a fault of the bowels themselves, which are too weak either to prevent the production of elastic air, or to expel it after it is produced.