Scratch

“ When you are in the presence of your superior, do not scratch yourself; but if any part of your body itches so badly that you cannot help scratching it, put a finger on the spot and give it a hard scratch so that the itchiness may be absorbed in the pain so caused. ”

“ Seeing how he enjoyed a scratch, various men offered themselves as scratchers to other beasts. You could see the men all along the alley, each with a piece of board, arms going up and down automaton-like, the steers with their heads slowly turning, gratified. ”

“ Through awkwardness, a student of anatomy pricks himself with his scalpel in the course of his work; or else, by inadvertence, he has an insignificant scratch on his hand. A cut which one would hardly notice, produced by the point of a pocket knife, a scratch of no account, from a thorn or otherwise, now becomes a mortal wound, if powerful antiseptics do not speedily remedy the ill. ”

“ An extremely fine scratch on a well-polished surface may be regarded as having a concave, cylindrical, or at least a curved surface, capable of reflecting light in all directions; this is evident, for it is visible in all directions. Hence a single scratch or furrow in a surface may produce colours by the interference of the rays reflected from its opposite edges. Examine a spider’s thread in the sunshine, and it will gleam with vivid colours. ”

“ Suppose during the scratch-reflex a stimulus be applied to the foot not of the scratching side, but of the opposite side. The left leg, which is executing the scratchreflex in response to stimulation of the left shoulder skin is cut short in its movement by the stimulation of the right foot, although the stimulus at the shoulder to provoke the scratch movement is maintained unaltered all the time. The stimulus to the right foot will temporarily interrupt a scratch-reflex, or will cut it short or will delay its onset ”

“ Possibly the constant use of the scratch stick in countries without wood suggested that it should be carried in the hair, and hence it would originate the fashion of wearing the hair crimped round it, and after a while it would itself be used as a crimping-pin.
Thus far, the suggestion of a religious or ceremonial idea attaching to the custom of scratching has not been apparent, unless we bear in mind that the warrior setting out on the warpath never neglects to surround himself with all the safeguards which the most potent incantations and "medicine" of every kind can supply. ”

“ They may gouge out an eye, cut off a hand, pull out their tongue, or even disembowel or dreadfully burn themselves. Some patients persistently beat their heads against the wall or floor, others scratch the skin, making large sores. ”

“ Every scratch you get (and you get a good number from thorns, etc.) at once becomes a small sore, gradually grows, and lasts sometimes for weeks. It is partly the effect of hot sun and dry air too rapidly drying up the wound, and also probably the blood is not in too good a state from living on unchanging diet of tinned half salt beef and tinned vegetables. ”

“ Mange—Mange is considered a serious disease, and is caused by fleas which induce the animal to scratch. The fur gets thin and the body is covered with scabs. This may be cured by applying a good flea powder and a dip. ”

“ It should never be forgotten that what we call 'catastrophes,' are, in relation to the earth, changes, the equivalents of which would be well represented by the development of a few pimples, or the scratch of a pin, on a man's head. ”

“ Scratching movements are infinite in their variety, and since the co-operating muscles vary in each case, the question of muscular localisation is of secondary interest.
The object in view in the act of scratching is relief from some such source of cutaneous irritation as a pimple, an abrasion, a burn, the bite of an insect, etc., and so long as the cause persists, the function is being rationally exercised; but to persevere mechanically, involuntarily, immoderately, in the absence of pruritus or of other paræsthesiæ, is a sign that the functional act is growing into a tic. ”

“ Local Conditions.—The subjective symptoms in these cases often include {401} much more than pain. There may be numbness and the hands often feel cold, though they do not become blue. As a rule, indeed, the arms are more affected than the hands, though not infrequently one of the hands becomes more sensitive to injuries than the other and, as a rule, both hands do not heal well after injury. Even scratches take a long time to heal and slight abrasions cause skin lesions that are more or less indolent for some time before healing. ”

“ The spaces between the toes and fingers, and the wrists, are most liable to invasion. The child's frequent scratching soon converts the rash into scabs, in which condition the disease will frequently first be noticed by the teacher. ”

“ Scratching is a painful process and is performed with a brier, a flint arrowhead, a rattlesnake’s tooth, or even with a piece of glass, according to the nature of the ailment, while in preparing the young men for the ball play the shaman uses an instrument somewhat resembling a comb, having seven teeth made from the sharpened splinters of the leg bone of a turkey. ”

“ But of course, as you know, the vast majority of cuts and scratches and tears heal perfectly. They hurt when they happen; and they burn, or smart, for a few hours, or hurt, if bumped, for a few days afterward; but they heal soon and are forgotten. ”

“ Bruises of all sorts, however, unless very severe, are much safer than cuts or scratches, because they do not break the skin, and consequently no germs can get into the tissues of the blood. Our skin, as you remember, is one of the most wonderful water-proof, germ-proof, hot-and-cold-proof coat{320}ings in the world; and as long as it remains unbroken, none but a few of the most virulent disease-germs can get through it into the body. ”

“ But more suggestive than any of these shams was the stern reality of a purple scar which ran round the back of his neck, from ear to ear. More than one man must have been hurt, when that scar was made. ”

“ That frightful scar running all the way down one side of his clean-shaven face, from his eye to his chin, must have been made with a knife; but no one knew how it had been done, and that made it all the more mysterious. ”

“ And full across this crown, disappearing in the thicker fringe above the ears, ran the most prodigious scar I had ever seen. Because the vision of it was so fleeting, ere the match blew out, and because of the scar's very prodigiousness, I may possibly exaggerate, but I could have sworn that I could lay two fingers deep into the horrid cleft and that it was fully two fingers broad. There seemed no bone at all, just a great fissure, a deep valley covered with skin; and I was confident that the brain pulsed immediately under that skin. ”

“ So in this scar I was not going exactly to copy that riven throat, but, with slender rolls of cotton, covered and held by gold-beaters' skin, I was going to create dull white welts with angry red spaces painted between—with strong sticking-plaster attached to my eyelid, I was going to draw it from its natural position. Oh, I should have a rare scar! yet that poor woman might herself see it without suspecting she had given me the idea.
Oh, what a time of misery it was, the preparation of that play! Poor Mr. Daly—and poor, poor Miss Morris!
You see everything hung upon the mad-scene. ”

“ The wounds which seem like real wounds, the color of the skin, the contraction of the face, the attitude, the expression,—each thing is terribly real. If you touched the body, you would expect to feel the tremor of the limbs and the warmth of the blood. ”

“ A Simple Wound is that which only opens the Flesh, and hath no other concomitant Circumstances; but a Complicated Wound, on the contrary, is that which is attended with grievous Symptoms, as Hæmorrhages, Fractures of Bones, Dislocation, Lameness, and others of the like Nature. {142}
What is a dangerous and mortal Wound?
A dangerous Wound is that which is complicated the Accidents whereof are dreadful: As when an Artery is open'd or prick'd, when a Nerve or Tendon is cut, or when the Wound is near a Joynt and accompanied with a Dislocation or Fracture. ”

“ A quick electric flame of pain flashes along the outraged nerves, and you discover for the first time how great is the capacity for sensation you are possessed of. A shriek, a grab for the animal, and a bewildered stare follow this bite of bites as one comes back to consciousness from sudden eclipse. ”

“ CLOWN. O madam, yonder's my lord your son with a patch of
velvet
on's face; whether there be a scar under 't or no, the velvet
knows; but 'tis a goodly patch of velvet. His left cheek is a
cheek of two pile and a half, but his right cheek is worn
bare.
LAFEU. A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good liv'ry of
honour; so belike is that. ”

“ Breaks in the Skin.—A small cut or tear in the skin may become very sore and cause much trouble if not cared for so as to keep the germs out. If there is dirt in the wound, as when made with a rusty nail or by the bite of a dog, it should be squeezed and washed with boiled water to make it perfectly clean. ”

“ Slowly, with suppuration, and the formation of granulations, and leaving a large red scar, as when so much skin has been destroyed that the edges of the wound cannot be brought together, or so lacerated and bruised that life is destroyed in them, or separated by blood or exudation of matter, or if the injured parts have been disturbed, or the wound has not been properly cleaned and disinfected. Want of cleanliness leads to putrefaction and the formation of matter, which separates the sides of the wound. ”

“ I fell on my forearms and head, among thorns, and rose with a torn ear and bleeding face. I had fallen into a precipitous ravine, rocky and thorny, full of a hazy mist which drifted about me in wisps, and with a narrow streamlet from which this mist came meandering down the centre. ”

“ The tissue lost can be restored so perfectly that no trace of an injury remains; but when the loss has been extensive, and in a tissue of complex structure, complete restoration does not take place and a less perfect tissue is formed which is called a scar. Examination of the skin in almost anyone will show some such scars which have resulted from wounds. ”

“ When a cut is made in the skin they are borne to the breach by the flow of blood and there pile up and coagulate, forming a new skin to protect the raw flesh, somewhat as a breach in a rampart is hastily filled in with sand bags. ”

“ The governess approached this figure slowly. A middle-aged man, loosely-dressed, hair turning gray, dark-complexioned, with a scar on his cheek, a scar such as a slash with a keen-edged knife might have made. ”

“ A scar anywhere is a locus minoris resistentiæ, more liable to be abraded, inflamed, to suffer pain and cold, than are the neighboring parts. A sprained ankle, a dislocated arm, are in danger of being sprained or dislocated again ”

“ His skin cracks and curls up, the clefts going constantly deeper into the flesh, and the exuding blood quickly dries and leaves a tough coating over the wounds. Wherever the exudation touches it stings and burns, and the cracks and clefts, irritated more and more each minute, deepen and widen and lengthen, smarting and nerve-racking with their pain. ”

“ As if more effectually to complete the unfavorable impression of such an outline, an ugly scar, partly across the cheek, and slightly impairing the integrity of the left nostril, gives to his whole look a sinister expression, calculated to defeat entirely any neutralizing or less objectionable feature. ”

“ Owing to the exercise I was obliged to take, the bites bled for several hours. I do not remember feeling the first puncture. I have now heard that these blood-suckers infest leaves and herbage, and that when they hear the rustling made by man or animal in passing, they stretch themselves to their fullest length, and if they can touch any part of his body or dress they hold on to it, and as quickly as possible reach some spot where they can suck their fill. ”

“ Was blood, his own. 'Well, blood is dirt,' I said.
'Blood's dirt,' he laughed, looking away,
Far off to where his wound had bled
And almost merged for ever into clay.
'The world is washing out its stains,' he said.
'It doesn't like our cheeks so red:
Young blood's its great objection. ”

“ The soft menacing sound deepened, as heat deepens, strikes through the skin into the very flesh. Head on, with long legs rising, falling, rising again, striking the ground insanely, like needles taking terrible, impossible and purposeless stitches. ”

“ Scars: from right eyebrow through the right cheek to the lobe of ear; from left side of neck to the middle of chest bone; horizontal scar from nipple to nipple, rifle or pistol wound in right leg, two inches above knee; three buckshot in back, one in left buttock; little toe on left foot missing. Disposition uncommunicative, but of pleasant address and cheerful until irritated. A very handy man. ”

“ Shave the hair away from the chest, and beneath each fore-leg; wet the part with spirits of turpentine, and set fire to it, having previously had the animal well secured, with his head well raised, and a flannel cloth at hand with which to extinguish the flame after it has, burned a sufficient time to produce slight blisters; if carried too far, a sore is formed, productive of no good effects, and causing unnecessary suffering. ”