Undress and put the patient into bed as soon as possible; let him
sleep six, eight, or ten hours. Do not attempt to grasp his limbs tight,
or hold them tight while he is in convulsions, as he will only bruise
himself Restrain, but do not violently oppose, the struggles. For
cases of this kind give the simplest and lightest diet: beef-tea, rice,
milk, tea and toast, chicken-broth, etc.; and be very careful to let no
one subject to fits overload his stomach, or otherwise play the fool
with himself
DiARRHCEA. — Do not try to stifle it immediately with chalk-mixture,
opium pills, or any of the common di^rhoea medicines, but give first
a small dose of castor oil or tincture of rhubarb, or Gregory's pow-
der, and wait till it has operated: taking care to keep the patient, if
possible, perfectly quiet, and on his back. In case there is much
pain, you may put five drops of laudanum into the dose of tincture
of rhubarb. If the diarrhoea still continues after the medicine has
operated, and you cannot get a doctor, then give, according to age
and strength, five, ten, or fifteen drops of chlorodyne in a wine-glass
of water every two hours; and if that does not answer, then a half-
grain or one grain opium pill every two hours, or a wine-glass of
water with fifteen to twenty drops of laudanum, and a little essence
of peppermint and powdered ginger. Feed the patient with dry
toast, tea without milk, rice-pudding and arrowroot; allow no meat
and no vegetables, and keep him quiet in his berth; a warm bed is
best of all. If you keep on your legs, or moving much about, you
may have a very bad time of it. A rice diet is very advisable.
A very able medical man states that he finds the following
1 86 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
treatment to answer admirably : Commence with a mild dose of some
opening medicine or other, and then give ten drops of diluted sul-
phuric acid three times a day in a little water. For common cases,
not violent, of diarrhoea, the homoeopathic treatment of camphor
pills, one or two every quarter of an hour or so, works extremely
well.
To Stop the Flow of Blood. — Bind the cut with cobwebs and
brown sugar, pressed on like lint; or — if you cannot procure these —
with the fine dust of tea.
For Headache, wet with camphor a piece of flannel (red), sprinkle
with black pepper and bind it on the head ; before it is on long the
headache will be gone.
Fainting. — Put the patient immediately in a chair, and make him
sit down, and bend his head low between his knees, until the head
be brought pretty well on a level with the lower part of the stomach:
by these means (the feeling of) faintness will at once pass off.
Lumbago. — Use plenty of friction, with a Turkish towel, or if you
can bear it, with a flesh-brush. Apply flannel, moistened with mus-
tard liniment, to the place where the pain is bad, and wear a flannel
belt round the waist and loins — red flannel is best. If you have no
mustard liniment at hand, use a mustard poultice or plaster, sprinkled
with a few drops of spirits of turpentine: it will answer the same
purpose. A Turkish bath, if you can get one, or if not, any medicine
to act upon the skin and bring out perspiration, is generally useful.
Page 117
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Undress and put the patient into bed as soon as possible; let him sleep six, eight, or ten hours. Do not attempt to grasp his limbs tight, or hold them tight while he is in convulsions, as he will only bruise himself Restrain, but do not violently oppose, the struggles. For cases of this kind give the simplest and lightest diet: beef-tea, rice, milk, tea and toast, chicken-broth, etc.; and be very careful to let no one subject to fits overload his stomach, or otherwise play the fool with himself
DIARRHOEA. — Do not try to stifle it immediately with chalk-mixture, opium pills, or any of the common diarrhoea medicines, but give first a small dose of castor oil or tincture of rhubarb, or Gregory's powder, and wait till it has operated: taking care to keep the patient, if possible, perfectly quiet, and on his back. In case there is much pain, you may put five drops of laudanum into the dose of tincture of rhubarb. If the diarrhoea still continues after the medicine has operated, and you cannot get a doctor, then give, according to age and strength, five, ten, or fifteen drops of chlorodyne in a wine-glass of water every two hours; and if that does not answer, then a halfgrain or one grain opium pill every two hours, or a wine-glass of water with fifteen to twenty drops of laudanum, and a little essence of peppermint and powdered ginger. Feed the patient with dry toast, tea without milk, rice-pudding and arrowroot; allow no meat and no vegetables, and keep him quiet in his berth; a warm bed is best of all. If you keep on your legs, or moving much about, you may have a very bad time of it. A rice diet is very advisable.
A very able medical man states that he finds the following
1 86 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
treatment to answer admirably : Commence with a mild dose of some opening medicine or other, and then give ten drops of diluted sulphuric acid three times a day in a little water. For common cases, not violent, of diarrhoea, the homoeopathic treatment of camphor pills, one or two every quarter of an hour or so, works extremely well.
To Stop the Flow of Blood. — Bind the cut with cobwebs and brown sugar, pressed on like lint; or — if you cannot procure these — with the fine dust of tea.
For Headache, wet with camphor a piece of flannel (red), sprinkle with black pepper and bind it on the head ; before it is on long the headache will be gone.
Fainting. — Put the patient immediately in a chair, and make him sit down, and bend his head low between his knees, until the head be brought pretty well on a level with the lower part of the stomach: by these means (the feeling of) faintness will at once pass off.
Lumbago. — Use plenty of friction, with a Turkish towel, or if you can bear it, with a flesh-brush. Apply flannel, moistened with mustard liniment, to the place where the pain is bad, and wear a flannel belt round the waist and loins — red flannel is best. If you have no mustard liniment at hand, use a mustard poultice or plaster, sprinkled with a few drops of spirits of turpentine: it will answer the same purpose. A Turkish bath, if you can get one, or if not, any medicine to act upon the skin and bring out perspiration, is generally useful.