A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty.

  • Doty, Alvah H. (Alvah Hunt), 1854-1934.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of instruction in the principles of prompt aid to the injured : including a chapter on hygiene and disinfection, designed for civil and military use / by Alvah H. Doty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    the circulation, and should be resorted to when heat can not be supplied as indicated above. The second indication —the use of internal stimulation—is of course governed by the condition of the patient. If able to swallow, he should be given about two teaspoonfuls of whisky or brandy, with a small amount of hot water, or, still better, hot milk; this may be repeated every ten or fifteen minutes, until four or five doses have been taken, or reaction becomes apparent. When the latter occurs, the stimulant should be dimin- ished or discontinued. There are cases where a greater amount of liquor may be required, but it should be given with caution, as too much may produce undue vomiting and favor excessive reaction. If a number of large doses of a stimulant have been given with no effect, it is evident that the stomach is unable to absorb the fluid, and its further administration by the mouth would be useless. A large number of persons suffering from shock are unable to swallow, as the result of extreme prostration; this should be carefully ascertained before giving anything by the mouth, as strangulation may ensue, the fluid entering the larynx. In such cases a tablespoonful or more of liquor in half a cupful of warm milk or water can be intro- duced into the rectum (lower bowel) by a syringe, and may be repeated about every fifteen or twenty minutes; also pint injections of water as hot as can be borne by the hand. The value of the liquors depends upon the percentage of alcohol they contain, which in brandy and whiskj^ is about forty to fifty per cent, and consequently more than in wines, which contain but from fifteen to thirty-five per cent. One half the amount of alcohol diluted as above would therefore be a substitute for the liquors. Beer and ale, containing only two or three per cent of alcohol, would be worse than useless, simply filling up the stomach, with no satisfactory results. A small amount of spirits of ammonia or ether, or about four or five drops of nitrite of amyl, on the hand or a handkerchief, and placed near the patient's nose, has a decided stimulant effect. Warm turpentine rubbed up