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| OLD-AID |
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| Our Department of Antique Advice:
I
have a strong enjoyment of history, and also feel that we often fail to realize how far we
have come or how close we
still are to those who have gone before us. In the manner of youth, we often feel that we
are the only true moderns,
and that our nouveau thoughts and creations set us apart from the generations past. There
is a special piquancy to
savor in some of these first-aid recommendations from the past.
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LIFTING A WOUNDED MAN OFF HIS HORSE:
Before the casualty is lifted off, spurs must always be removed, whatever the nature of
the injury; and if the horse is restive the fore leg with the knee bent should be held up.
Bearers Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in the case of an injured lower limb, place themselves on the
affected side; in the case of an injured upper limb the bearers approach on the sound
side. In the case of a wounded lower limb, on the command "Lay Hold"
(given by No. 1), No. 2 bearer from behind catches hold of the pelvis and sound side; No.
3 bearer is held round the neck and the shoulders by the wounded man; No. 4 bearer holds
the wounded leg; on the words "Ready, Lift Off", the patient is taken off
and held over the stretcher placed alongside, and on the command "Lower"
is laid on it. In the case of a wounded upper limb, No. 2 bearer supports the
pelvis and legs, No. 3 bearer is held round the neck by the
patient's sound arm, No. 4 bearer holds the wounded arm. On the command "Ready---Lift
Off", the bearers lift off and hold the patient over the stretcher placed
alongside. If four bearers are available, one should hold the horse's head.
Warwick
and Tunstall's First Aid To The Injured And Sick, An Advanced Ambulance Handbook
edited by A. P. Gorham, M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.A.,
Officer of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; Chairman, St. John Association, Bristol
Centre;
Late Corps Surgeon, St. John Ambulance Brigade; Police Surgeon, City and County of
Bristol;
Medical Officer, Bristol Fire Brigade; Teacher in First Aid, University of Bristol
Bristol: John Wright & Sons Ltd. London: Simpkin Marshall Ltd. 1952 Nineteenth Edition
261st Thousand
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| [Description of Open chest cardiac massage from a British medical
text]: "As one incises the skin and chest wall with the scalpel . . .
"Absence of hemorrhage confirms the diagnosis of cardiac arrest." {Editor's
Note: True, but this is a fine time to make this distinction!} |
CLOQUET'S NEEDLE TEST: A clean needle is plunged into
the biceps muscle; if life is not extinct, the needle oxidizes in 20-60 minutes.
Dorland's illustrated medical dictionary, 27th ed.Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Co., 1988,
p1521 |
| RATTLESNAKE BITE: {In the Handbook For Boys, first
aid instructions by Major Charles Lynch of the American National Red Cross, 1926 edition,
it was recommended to cauterize the wound as found particularly efficacious by hunters, to
remove the bullet from a cartridge, pour the gunpowder into the wound, and set it alight.} |
| CLEANING GREASE FROM WOUNDS: {In the Handbook For
Boys, first aid instructions by Major Charles Lynch of the American National Red Cross,
1926 edition, it was recommended that if the wound was contaminated by oil or grease to "go
across the street and milk a Ford" [i.e., siphon gasoline to use as a
solvent to remove the grease].} |
REMOVING A STINGER FROM THE WOUND: ". . . The
injury should be treated immediately. The sting should be removed by pressing on it with a
hollow ring such as the tube of a watch key. Swab the part freely with dilute ammonia, rub
on raw onion, or apply a paste of washing soda and sal volatile. If these are not
available, a small dab of washing soda moistened, or the blue bag, will allay the
pain."
Warwick and Tunstall's First Aid To The Injured
And Sick, An Advanced Ambulance Handbook
edited by A. P. Gorham, M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.A.,
Officer of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; Chairman, St. John Association, Bristol
Centre;
Late Corps Surgeon, St. John Ambulance Brigade; Police Surgeon, City and County of
Bristol;
Medical Officer, Bristol Fire Brigade; Teacher in First Aid, University of Bristol
Bristol: John Wright & Sons Ltd. London: Simpkin Marshall Ltd. 1952 Nineteenth Edition
261st Thousand
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BITES BY RABID ANIMALS: Dogs, foxes, etc., can suffer
from a disease called rabies, which is rare in England largely because of our animal
quarantine regulations. If a man is bitten by a rabid animal, he may develop
rabies, also called Hydrophobia, which until a sure cure was discovered by Pasteur was
very serious and often fatal. The symptoms of hydrophobia do not develop for about a month
after the bite. They include great giddiness, extreme prostration, and difficulty in
swallowing and breathing which increase progressively. In the case of a bite by an animal
suspected of being rabid, it is of great importance that the part bitten should bleed
freely so as to wash out the wound from within. The poisons travel from the bitten part
along the nerves themselves, to enter the spinal cord and brain; they do not travel by the
blood-stream. A constriction should be placed round the limb with the object of causing
the limb to swell with blood. The constriction hence should occlude the veins, but it is
important that it should not occlude the arteries. If this occurs it will be shown by the
limb getting white and cold, and by the bleeding ceasing. The part should, of course , be
kept low. The wound should be bathed with warm water or a warm solution of permanganate of
potash, to a pale pink colour. Alcohol should be given to the casualty (for an adult 2
tablespoonfuls, for a child 2 teaspoonfuls, in a wine glass of water), or hot black
coffee, or both. Cauterize the wound with carbolic acid, or nitric acid, using a
match-stick cut to a point to get the acid into all the small crevices of the wound. A
"lunar caustic stick" (silver nitrate) may be used if carbolic or nitric acid is
not available.
Warwick and Tunstall's First Aid To The Injured And
Sick, An Advanced Ambulance Handbook
edited by A. P. Gorham, M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.A.,
Officer of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; Chairman, St. John Association, Bristol
Centre;
Late Corps Surgeon, St. John Ambulance Brigade; Police Surgeon, City and County of
Bristol;
Medical Officer, Bristol Fire Brigade; Teacher in First Aid, University of Bristol
Bristol: John Wright & Sons Ltd. London: Simpkin Marshall Ltd. 1952 Nineteenth Edition
261st Thousand
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| SHIPBOARD SUPRAPUBIC CYSTOTOMY: A medical guide for
ships without doctors recommended that in cases of urinary retention which could not be
relieved by a catheter the Captain should cleanse the skin in the midline at the level of
the pubic hair and insert the 18gauge 3" intracardiac needle into the bladder and
stand back. |
STOPPING A RUNAWAY HORSE: The method for checking a
horse running away is not to run out and wave your arm in front of him, as this will only
cause him to dodge to one side and to run faster, but to try to run alongside the vehicle
with one hand on the shaft to prevent yourself from falling, seizing the reins with the
other hand and dragging the horse's head toward you. If when he has somewhat slowed down
by this method, you can turn him toward a house or wall he will probably stop.
Handbook
For Boys, copyright 1911, Boy Scouts of America
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MAD DOG: The first thing to do is to kill the mad dog at
once. Wrap a handkerchief around the hand to prevent the dog's teeth from entering the
flesh and grasp a club of some kind. If you can stop the dog with a stick you should hit
him hard over the head with it, or kick him under the jaw. A handkerchief held in front of
you in your outstretched hands will generally cause the dog to stop to paw it before he
attempts to bite you. This will give you an opportunity to kick him under the lower jaw.
Handbook
For Boys, copyright 1911, Boy Scouts of America
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SPLINT MATERIALS: ". . . Often in the military
service splints must be extemporized; one of the most useful and most accessible materials
for preparing them is telegraph wire; the method of using it is illustrated in the figures
(Fig. 61). On the battlefield the various weapons may be employed: rifles, bayonets,
swords, scabbards (Fig. 62), and tent pins; splints may also be prepared from blankets and
straw, from hay, small sticks, the bark of trees, barrel staves, broom handles, canes and
umbrellas."
A Complete Handbook for the Sanitary Troops of the U.S. Army
and Navy and National Guard and Naval Militia
by Charles Field Mason, Colonel Medical Corps, U.S. Army Fourth Edition, Revised,
Approved by the Surgeon-Generals of the Army and Navy, Profusely Illustrated,
New York, William Wood And Company, MDCCCCXVIII, 1917
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FOREIGN BODIES: "In the nose: Children push
peas and such things into the nose, and occasionally flies deposit their eggs there with
the result that maggots develop in the nasal cavity. Foreign bodies are best removed by
closing the free nostril with the finger and forcibly blowing through the obstructed side;
snuffing up a little powdered tobacco or pepper will cause sneezing and aid in the
expulsion; if this does not succeed and the body can be seen it may be hooked out with the
bent hairpin in the same manner as described for the ear; or finally a small, smooth stick
or a slender pencil may be wrapped with a little cotton and used to push the foreign body
gently back through the posterior nares into the mouth; press straight backward, never
upward. Maggots in the nose is a very serious condition which may result in death.
Let the patient inhale through the nose a half-teaspoonful of chloroform, and while the
maggots are stupefied syringe them out with warm normal saline solution."
A
Complete Handbook for the Sanitary Troops of the U.S. Army and Navy and National Guard and
Naval Militia
by Charles Field Mason, Colonel Medical Corps, U.S. Army Fourth Edition, Revised,
Approved by the Surgeon-Generals of the Army and Navy, Profusely Illustrated,
New York, William Wood And Company, MDCCCCXVIII, 1917
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BLEEDING: " . . . Do not be alarmed by the amount
of blood that flows from the patient. It used to be common thing for a barber to bleed a
man to the extent of five or six cupfuls of blood."
Baden-Powell's
Scouting for Boys; Boy's Edition
by Lord Baden-Powell,
London, C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.,
Tower House, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C. 2,
1932, Revised Edition 1961
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