Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-07-12
THE HOME DOCTOR.
ALUM WATER.

One OF grandmOtherS wise ways was
to keep a cup of alum water always close
at hand; it usually stood on the window
sill beside her work basket. Cut fingers
and bruises of all kinds, if wrapped in
cloth wet in the alum water, healed with
a rapidity that was truly wonderful.
This is so simple a remedy that it is
worth while to know about it.
HOW sUNsTROKE CAN BE CURED.
For an effective cure for sunstroke the
following is especially recommended:
Remove the patient to a shaded spot at
once. Place the body in sitting pos
ture, the back against wall, with the feet
and legs resting upon the sidewalk and
extended in front of the body. Get ice
water ard bottle of some strong es-
sence of ginger. Pour the ice-water over
the head. copiously, never mind the
clothes. Then pour two or three table
spoonfuls of ginger In about half tum-
bier of water and make the patient swal-
low it quickly. Keep the head cool by
using little of the ice-water, and in
case there is not much of a glow upon
the body give more ginger. Ii the di
rections are followed there will be no &C.
casion for the services of an undertaken.
Ginger is far the best to use, but where
it cannot be had quickly two or three
good drinks of brandy will answer
Boston Herald.
FRESH AIR.
The Medical Tribune reprints an arti-
Gle contributed to the Popular Science
Monthly by DIR. Felix L. Oswald, who
urges that children should be made
,a1- of4 H., Ia
to associate dusty rooms with disease
and discomfort, and pure air with health
and happiness. DR.. Oswald says that
children who have been brought up in
hygienic homes often "feel as if they
were going to be choked il unventilat-
ed rooms. Children who have lived in
pure air from the hour of their birth,
not only feel great discomfort on enter
ing an unventilated rooms, but they be-
come almost weatherproof, delighting to
brave the extremes of temperature. DR..
Oswald says that even girls who have
learned to brave the winter storms of
the prairies of the northwest will after
wards laugh at draughts" and straw
March Winds. The fact which he ex-
hibits, that we develop in infancy fond
ness for fresh air or an indifference to
atmospheric impurities which abides
through life, is SO important that his
words concerning it deserve frequent
repetition. The purity of the blood
depends SO greatly upon the puri-
ty of the air taken into the lungs that
there would be vastly more health hap
piness and intellectual as well as mental
vigor in the world, were all mankind
es1Ova-sick after fresh dir -
wHITLoWs.
Whltlows are among the most painful
ailments to which we are liable. Most
OF the suffering, however, could be
avoided If they were properly treated
and attended to at once. There are
three kinds of whitlows. The least
troublesome is an Inflammation of the
skin on some part of the finger, gener-
ally due to an animal poison absorbed
in some slight scratch or abrasion.
Cooks and poultry dealers are specially
subject to it, from the handling of
high game. There is not much
swelling, but the inflammation tends to
spread up the finger and the hand. It
Is readily checked by applying to it, and
little beyond the REDEEMED part,
pretty strong solution of nitrate of sill
yer. The second kind of whitlow usual
ly appears about the nail, or the tip of
the finger, and if due to some slight,
perhaps unnoticed, injury. Pus forms
rapidly under the skin, and there is a
severe throbbing pain. This can be at
once and easily relieved by opening the
skin above it. Ii, as is perhaps the
case, it is under the nail, the pus may
he reached and let out by carefully cut.
ting away the edge of the nail; or, if it
is near the roots, by pairing down the
nail with sharp knife. The third kind
generally called felon-is an inflam-
nation and suppuration beneath the
membrane (periosteum) that covers the
bone. 1t is usually on the last, spongy
joint of the finger. If left to itself, the
pus will work to the surface. But the
process is very slow and very painful,
and results in destroying the terminal
bone. Treating 1t with "soap and
sugar" and poultices is worse than use
less. Have physician open it to the
bone-the earlier the better, both in re-
lieving the pain and saving the joint
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