Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-07-19
NO. IS

SPANS AND BRuIsxs.-Thsss are
among the most painful accidents
which ordinarily occur, and often
bring the most serious consequences.
A physician 10 not often called to at.
tend thsm. though some Of them
merit the most careful consideration.
Bruises On the heshy parts Of the
body cause generally very little tFou-
bic but sprains about the joints are
sometimes very annoying. In our
hints, therefore. for treatment We
shall confine ourselves 10 the eonsid-
Grafton Of sprains. merely promising
that bruises may be enthusiastically
treated in the same way.
The first thing 70 be considered in
treating q sprain. il to prevent the
inflammation Of the Joint, IL possible.
In order 70 Go this Il il nenassarv 20
kaap tha joint perfectly cool. This
may be accomplished By showering
the part affected. almost constantly
with cold water; but this is not always
practicable. In such cases there is
no better application than solution
of common salt in cold water. This
solution may be made by putting a
handful of salt into pitcher Of water;
the water will only dissolve q certain
proportion Of the salt, and so long as
some Of the salt remains on the bot
tom Of the vessel it is a sure indica-
ton that the solution is at its full
strength. A cloth thoroughly satu-
rated with this solution should be put
on the part and changed often enough
to keep it cool.
Whatever you do, do not apply any
of the stimulating and heating lini-
ments SO much in vogue. They are
very good perhaps. for old sprains,
but applied to fresh ones only tend
to increase the danger already exist
ing of Inflammation in the joint. In
any event the joint affected should
be kept perfectly quiet, and If the in
jury be at all serious competent sur
geon should be at once called on to
decide whether or not there be any
bones broken.
Although we can assure our read
ers that the bones about the joints
most liable TO sprain-viz., the wrist
and ankle-are not easily fractured,
yet we are bound TO say that sprains
of these joints are nearly as painful
and as long in healing as apparently
more serious fractures.-ErchGnge.
WHAT A VOLCANO Cam Do.-Coto-
paxi, in 1888. threw its fiery rockets
5000 feet above its crater, while in
1854 the blazing mass, struggling for
an outlet roared so that its awful
voice was heard at a distance Of more
than 600 miles. In 1897 the crater
Of Tunguragua, one of the great peaks
of the Andes. flung out torrents of
mud, which damned up the rivers,
opened new lakes and in valleys 1000
feet wide made deposits 600 feet deep.
The stream from Vesuvius, which, in
1877, passed through Tore del Greco,
contained 33,OO0OO0 cubic feet of
solid matter, and in 1898 when Tore
del Greco was destroyed a second
time, the mass Of lava amounted to
As, 600, 900 cubic feet. In l760 Etna
poured forth a food which covered
"a square miles Of surface and meas
ured only l,0OO,000,0O0 cubic feet.
On this occasion the land and scoria
formed Monte Rosini near Nicholosa,
a cone Of two miles in circumference,
and 1900 feet high. The stream
thrown out by Etna in 1910 was in
motion at the rate of a yard day
for nine months after the eruption;
and it is on record that the lava Of
the same mountain, after a terrible
eruption, was not thoroughly cool
and CONSOLIDATED for ten years after
the event, In the eruption of Vesu-
vius, A. D. 70, the scoria and ashes
vomited forth far exceeded the entire
bulk Of the mountain while in 1860
Ktna disgorged 20 times its own mass.
Vesuvius has sent IFS ashes as far az
Constsntinople, Syria aud Egypt; it
hurled stones eight pounds in weight
to Pompeii, distance Of six miles,
where similar masses were tossed up
1900 feet above the summit. Cot0-
paxi has projected block of 100 GU
bic yards in volume distance Of nine
miles, and Sumbawa, in 1915, during
the most terrible eruption on record,
sent its ashes as far az Java a dis
tance Of three hundred miles of sur
face, and out Of a population of 49,
600 souls only 20 escaped.