Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2081

Rh of lint or a small handkerchief, and apply it to the wound with a bandage over it. This treatment also generally answers in bleeding from small arteries, although the pressure requires to be greater. If this is insufficient, and the sufferer is losing a great deal of blood, pending the arrival of medical aid, a rough and ready tourniquet should be applied also, by winding a handkerchief or silk scarf around the limb, on the side of the wound nearest the heart if an artery has been cut, or below it if a vein, and twisting tightly by means of a stick slipped beneath one of the turns. A hard pad over the artery or vein, under the handkerchief, will greatly assist the local pressure.

''From Varicose Veins. Treatment.''—Place the patient on his back, and apply a compress and bandage, or put half-a-crown or a penny in a handkerchief, place it over the wound, and tie it down tightly. (See Nursing Illustration, No. 1, Fig. 7.)

''From the Nose. Treatment.''—Apply cold water cloths or ice to the forehead; raise the arms above the head; seize the nose between the fingers, and squeeze the sides together. Make the patient sit upright in a chair; do not let him stand with his head over a basin, as this is a common cause of the bleeding continuing. In severe cases it may be to plug one or both nostrils, but medical assistance is then necessary. One or other of these methods may be tried, or they may all be tried in turn if the bleeding is difficult to check.

''From Leech-bites. Treatment.''—Lay a crystal of iron alum upon the wound. Dried alum and tannic acid may be used in a similar manner. Two strong needles run through the skin cross-wise, passing beneath the wound, and a piece of linen thread tied round them, will frequently answer when the simpler means fail.

''After Tooth Extraction. Treatment.''—Sponge the gums dry and see exactly whence the bleeding comes, then plug the tooth socket with wool moistened with perchloride of iron solution. A still better way is to paint the bleeding point with a solution of adrenalin, 1 in 1,000. Sometimes a saturated solution of antipyrin acts as an efficient styptic.

''After Confinement. Treatment.''—Keep the patient at absolute rest on her back, and remove the pillows so as to keep her head low; cover only very lightly with bedclothes. Place the hands on the lower part of the abdomen, and press deeply down with a kind of kneading motion. If the womb is felt contracting into a hard lump under the hands, grasp it and keep it tight till the arrival of the doctor. Give the patient a little tepid milk and water to drink.

From the Umbilical Cord.—When bleeding takes place from the umbilical cord, the child generally becomes restless, and the blood may saturate its clothing. Undress the child immediately, and tie a liagture of three or four thicknesses of worsted or linen thread behind the original ligature.

Internal Bleeding.—Instances of this form of bleeding are seen in hæmorrhage from the lungs and stomach. That from the lungs is