Amanda K. Beck

“ The treatment advised when fever and chilliness occur is the use of calomel and hot drinks, especially cream-of-tartar lemonade, which acts as a diuretic as well as a laxative. A diaphoretic at the beginning of the affection will always give the patient comfort and may unload the system of enough depressed toxic material to enable it to react and bring about the abortion of a cold.
Other medical men objected to calling everything an infection. A common cold, they thought, was nothing else than the effect of the lowered temperature on the human system. ”

“ It is a great mistake to allow or advise patients to use electricity themselves; no greater mistake would be made or more harmful results follow if they were advised to go to the drug store, and help themselves to any drugs they might choose. Electricity should be administered by a physician, or under the directions of a physician by a nurse who has been thoroughly taught its use.
In medicine we have usually considered three different forms of electricity: First, Galvanism or Chemical Electricity ”

“ The period of quarantine must be guided largely by the period of incubation, hence the subject is an important one for a variety of reasons. The “Medical Magazine” (London) states that the period of quarantine should be at least a day longer than the maximum period of incubation for each disease. This is a very uncertain rule, however, for the patient should be free from all signs of illness, and especially from fever. ”

“ The placenta thus has a two-fold function in acting both as an organ of circulation and of respiration. It is through the walls of the villi that this interchange of gases and fluids takes place; nourishment and oxygen passing through them to the fetus, and carbonic-acid gas and waste materials passing through them to the mother. There is no direct communication between the fetal and the maternal blood. The placenta, normally, is attached to the contractile part of the uterus, and on its separation the blood-vessels are closed by the contractions of the uterine wall. ”

“ An unclean mouth is not only very unpleasant and often painful to the patient, but is a source of infection. The accumulation of food and mucus is a fertile field for the lodgement of bacteria. If this infected material is allowed to remain, it can easily spread to the middle ear and the mastoid cells, and cause abscesses or be carried by the food to the already overburdened alimentary tract to add to its infection. When the accumulation of sordes is profuse and persistent the patient’s mouth ought to be cleansed after every feeding. ”

“ Milk is not an ideal food for the sick, too large a quantity being required, and the large curds it forms in the stomach often rendering digestion difficult. Boiled with rice it forms an excellent diet.
In acute diseases lasting from four to six weeks no great effort should be made at forced feeding. Thin soups, flooding the stomach with unnutritious fluids, should be avoided. It is unnatural to take food [Pg 169] during physical or mental suffering. Appetite is wanting, and imperfect assimilation adds to the physician’s worries and the patient’s discomforts. ”

“ Convulsions may be thought to indicate the onset of some acute disease when they occur in a child over two years old, and when they come on suddenly or with only slight premonition in a child previously well; but the most important point is that they are accompanied by a high temperature—104°-106° F. Acute meningitis is the only other condition likely to produce these symptoms. Whether the convulsions mark the onset of lobar pneumonia, scarlet fever, malaria, or some other disease can be determined only by carefully watching the patient’s symptoms for 24 or 36 hours. ”

“ The period of infection is very doubtful. It may be greatly prolonged by complications. This is especially true of small-pox, diphtheria, typhoid and scarlet fevers. The period during which a disease may be infectious cannot be stated definitely. It varies with different diseases, and must be determined according to the symptoms and character of the case. Measles, chicken-pox, and mumps lose the direct power of infection very early, and the infective principle does not remain active for a long period in the room in which the patient has been ill. ”

“ In convulsions depending upon some disorder of the alimentary tract, we may get a history of chronic constipation or improper feeding, and in nursing infants, sometimes of passion or intoxication in the wet-nurse. Convulsions are so frequently due to digestive derangement that the condition of these organs should be one of the first things to be looked into. Examination of the urine should never be omitted in any case of convulsions of doubtful origin, even where no dropsy is present. This, both in infants and older children, is too often overlooked. ”

“ The carbohydrates include sugars, starches, cellulose, and the fibers of plants. Potatoes, sago, farina, and arrowroot are rich in them. Fats should be used with caution in disease, because they retard the formation of hydrochloric acid, which excites the pancreatic secretion, an important factor in digestion. Man can live better without a stomach than without a pancreas. Physicians realize that they must rely on diet rather than drugs to cure indigestion, as the food varies in its proportion of fat, protein, and carbohydrates ”

“ Individual peculiarities must be considered always in giving massage. The room should be of such temperature that the patient when exposed will not feel chilly. Absolute quiet should be maintained during the treatment, and after the treatment the patient should remain quiet in a recumbent posture for an hour or two as the condition may require. The oft-used expression “that a masseur or masseuse possesses a great deal of electricity which is transferred during the treatment to the patient,” should find no place in the intelligent mind in considering the effects of massage. ”

“ Complications of Labor.—Labor may be brought on by extreme mental anxiety. The child may be born without any actual pain. It may be expelled while the patient has an evacuation of the bowels, especially if the bowel movement has been induced by enemata or a purgative. Children may be born without the usual progression of labor, yet with all normal conditions present. In cases where the mother dies during labor the uterus continues to contract until the child is born about fifteen minutes later. ”

“ In hysteria the patient may be apparently unconscious; the body is normal to the touch, the pulse is full and regular, the color is natural, and if an attempt is made to raise the eyelid it will be met with resistance. Do not leave the patient alone, but do not disturb her until she recovers.
EPILEPSY.
The attack comes on very suddenly. The patient utters a sharp cry, and falls to the ground. The muscles are rigid, the eyes staring, and there may be frothing at the mouth. The muscles soon relax, and there are twitchings of the whole body. ”

“ In fatal cases death usually results from exhaustion, the result of the systemic poisoning, but occasionally it is due to a failure of the heart to propel the blood through the solid lung, to suffocation, or a complication, such as inflammation of the covering of the heart (pericarditis) or lining of the heart (endocarditis) . ”

“ Peculiar facts connected with previous epidemics of poliomyelitis have made it appear possible that the disease when not spread directly from one person to another, like the most acute infectious diseases, may be dependent upon some intermediate agent, or perhaps upon some other host, or a living reservoir, or upon the combination of the two. If the disease is communicated by human contact, mild cases, abortive cases, and convalescents may carry the germs for years. ”

“ The abscess may gather in the cheek, necessitating lancing, which will leave a scar. Cold cloths will allay the infection and simplify the treatment to the gums alone. Teeth are withdrawn, leaving unsightly cavities, which could be avoided by a more deliberate treatment. Treat the abscess of the tooth the same as an abscess in any other part of the body, thereby saving the root of the tooth, if not the entire portion, which can be crowned and give a permanent good tooth.
Mastication is the most important part of the digestive system, and mastication cannot be done without good teeth. ”

“ Concentrated urine, when it cools, deposits a pinkish (brick-dust) precipitate. Gentle heat clears it up. When highly concentrated the crystals are red. When they collect and adhere together they become stones; if all precipitate on heating it is normal urine.
Alkaline urine throws down phosphates that are held in solution and clears up on addition of any acid; if urine is cold and acid in reaction, sediment, if present, may be urates, but is not phosphates; if urine is alkaline, they are normal phosphates. ”

“ Electricity is a useful and important therapeutic agent, and an understanding of its effect when applied to the human body is as essential as a knowledge of any other therapeutic measure. Too often the therapeutic use of electricity is committed to those having very little knowledge of it, and consequently good results are not obtained. ”

“ Nature brings it slowly, for if the head plunged down it might produce complete laceration of the perineum. If the head is delayed too long there is swelling of the scalp. The most painful period is when the head passes the perineum. Then there comes a marked change in the position of the fetus, and it lies in that position for some time; following, comes a rotation to one side, the shoulders turn, and birth occurs. The cord is still in the vagina, and the third stage begins with a flushing of amnii fluid. ”

“ Menstruation.—If the return flow of the menses occur during the nursing period the milk becomes impure, and the child may suffer from the effects of it. If menstruation takes place normally and the child does not become ill, it is because the mother is strong and can endure the drain upon her system with no other bad result than losing flesh. In such a case it is best to wean the baby, especially after it is nine months old. ”

“ With the resistive movements a certain degree of muscular activity is enforced by the patient, thus not only exercising the joints, but the muscles connected with the joints. The physiologic effect of joint movements is to markedly stimulate all the parts about the joint, and is indicated in various joint disorders which may have resulted in the lessening of the normal movements of the part, as in rheumatism, gout, chronic synovitis, and the stiffness that follows immobilization of the joint in the treatment of sprains, fractures, etc. ”

“ It not being possible for all nurses to become proficient in the art of massage while doing general nursing (as it requires time, patience, and a great deal of experience to succeed) , massage has become somewhat specialized, and we find many nurses who devote their time and attention exclusively to this work. Yet all nurses should have a general knowledge of the physiologic effects of massage and how to give it. ”

“ When the cornea becomes ulcerated great care must be used in the manipulation of the lids not to make pressure upon the eye-ball for fear of causing perforation. If the lids are slippery from the presence of vaselin or discharge, a single thickness of gauze or a little cotton held between the finger and the lid will be found a great help in opening the eye.
As the discharge of pus begins to diminish, which may not be for several weeks in bad cases, we may somewhat modify our treatment; the strong applications need not be quite so strong, and the cleansing need not be quite so frequent ”

“ Opium depresses the brain, depresses the respiration, stimulates the heart slightly, lessens the peristaltic movements of the bowel, and diminishes all secretions, except the sweat. It is employed to induce sleep, to relieve pain, to allay cough, to check diarrhea, and to promote perspiration.
Opium-poisoning is marked by three stages: the first stage is short and characterized by mental exhilaration; in the second stage the pupils are greatly contracted (pin-point) , the respirations are slow, the pulse is slow and full, and there is deep stupor. ”

“ Flavor is important because it stimulates the appetite and because it stimulates the flow of digestive fluids and thus aids digestion. Such foods are only injurious when they are used to excess. In that case the nerves which control the flow of digestive fluids are overstimulated and at last become weakened. Avoid the use of too many flavors at one meal.
SOURCE AND USE OF CHIEF FOOD CONSTITUENTS.
Overuse of Carbohydrates.—If too much sugar and starch are eaten, fermentation may take place and interfere with digestion. Too much sugar and starch overworks the liver. ”

“ The chorion is the more external of the two fetal membranes; it early surrounds the ovum and throws out processes (villi) toward the decidua reflexa and serotina. These processes are at first formed equally all over the chorion, but those which lie in connection with the decidua serotina grow more rapidly in size and complexity, and remain to form the main part of the placenta. The membrane in which the fetus lies is the amnion. Contained within the amnion is more or less fluid, the liquor amnii, in which the fetus rests as in a water-bed. ”