Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-11-05
Nursing the Sick.

ulIu Iukt u vfaNe III
three hours" said the doctor as he was
about to leave the room.
If he is asleep" asked the nurse,
when the time comes around, shall
wake him up for his medicine?"
"No, no, never. Sleep is, in almost
every sickness, better than any medicine
we can give"
This was the opinion of a learned and
prosperous physician Of the old school,
and as the opinion is doubtless sound
and good it shall be the basis of brief
paper on nursing the sick. The only
point to which would draw attention is
one almost universally disregarded and
never esteemed vitality important, as it
really is. 1t is the absolute Importance
of quiet to insure the proper effect OF
medicines and the steady Improvements
of the patient
No one who has not gone through with
what is called fit of sickness can under
stand the value and blessedness of quiet
In the sick-room. There are two ways
of learning it one is by enjoying it, the
other is suffering the want of it.
l have been in hospitals where hun -
dreds and thousands of patients were
enduring the pangs OF wounds and
bruises and sores, and have seen the in
tluence of distracting noise upon pros
trate army of sufferers. / have been in
the chamber of sickness where single
patient was soothed in his pains by the
gentle power of a tender tone and the
more potent spell of perfect silence that
acts like a healing charm.
| was, years ago, Frustrated by fever
and brought very low, so that to others 1T
seemed the gates of death would open
and Lot In A cnrh timnl the ynippg
of loving friends, in conversation, were
so trying to my nerves that ] longed for
wings to fly away. If they spoke low
strained every hearing nerve to catch
their words; If they conversed in ordi-
nary tones il was like harsh music and
nearly drove me out of my senses.
They would have given their right hands
or eyes to do me good, but If they had
only thought of my ears and the brain
they were distracting they would have
given me the precious boon OF silence,
more valuable to me then than gold or
calomel or love.
DIRECTIONS.
/. From the sick-room exclude all per-
sons but the patient and the nurse in
charge. Whatever assistance is required
should be within easy reach, but the less
the number in the room the less the
temptation to converse. LII a physician
is i'm attendance let his directions be
0beyed, and discharge any nurse at once
who knows so much more than the doc
tor as TO determine whether his prescrip-
tons are the best or motor dis
miss the doctor and install the
nurse in his place. In battle with
death there should be only one captain.
If other members of the family beside
the one in charge are admitted, let them
enter softly, minister to the sufferer
their loving offices, and retire, soothing
and not disturbing him by their voices
or steps.
2. Let your feet be shod with prepa-
ration of such peace as shall render your
footsteps inaudible as you move about
the room. Squeaking or heavy shoes are
an intolerable annoyance to sick per-
son. If yours are not so soft as 10 be
perfectly silent when you tread, cover
the soles with wool or wooden
cloth, and be sure that no one comes into
the room, on any errand whatever, whose
steps are to be "a disturbance to the quiet
you have ordained.
g. Shut out, as far as possible, the noise
of the street In the country the annoy
ance of street noise is not suffered, and
the fiendish scream Of the railroad en-
gineer is now justly undergoing protest
that we may hope, in the interest OF HUI
mainly, will lead to its suppression. In
this country an impression prevails that
everybody may make all the noise he
pleases, and that nobody has any rights
10 quiet which anybody is bound to re-
spect. Hence the engineer amuses him
self during the darkness of the night las
a man whistles passing graveyard by
filling the whole country with those ter
rife shrieks which the Modocs and
Comanches combined could not compass,
and which invariably suggest the yells
of emancipated fends. The sleepers
in thousand homes are startled from
their slumbers. Nervous invalids are
frightened into fits. Infancy is made to
initiate the scream. And so from Boston
to st. Louis, from Albany TO Washington,
every night in the year this long, rasping,
excruciating, destroying yell, useless 1T
has been abundantly proved and often
fatal in its effects, is perpetrated upon the
peace and health of long. suffering peo-
Pile This is one Of the penalties OF lib
erty. And this is one Of the nightly ter
rors of the country.
A. Let in the sunshine. The sun has
healing in his beams. Keep the room
just as light by day and by night as 1t is
pleasant to the patient Regulate it SO
as not to disturb his repose, but when
ever his eyes are open let them have
pleasant objects to rest on, and not hor-
ror of great darkness nor gTotesque
shadows, which to him assume the forms
of monsters. Light is cheerful; dark
ness is depressing Light is like life.
Darkness is death-like. Open the win
lnua for cuuuhinp and air
/ might make these hints many more,
but the only point want to present is
the Importance Of perfect quit in the sick
room. Haud ignarus mali, etc, which
means, /" Having been there | know how
it is myself "--Ireneus, TN ". Y. Observer.