Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-06-25
gadies' Column.
Hints to Nurses.


hair, nails, hands and shoes, and
should wear no starched skirts that
rustic, nor perfumed clothing. Talk
ing nurses are not wanted. People
who are naturally untidy are apt to
make a great deal of fuss in keep
ing rooms in order, and have what
are known as clearing-up times. If
YOU consider the details of nurses
work in order of importance, I'M
doubtedly fresh air and light come
first.
/ think that absolutely fresh air
in sick room is as necessary as
food and medicine, and often more
so. In the ordinary process of res
piration an adult person breathes
over about thirteen cubic feet of air
each hour. Surprising then that a
patient and nurse are in room and
without ventilation, it would not
take many hours to breathe all the
air up once, and the remaining time
these people would have to consume
the air that had once been through
the lungs, and from which had been
distracted about four per cent. of
its oxygen or vital element of air,
and the vapor of the breath and the
disease germs still remain in the
room
But it is not simply by the breath
that the air is vitalized, for the ex-
halations from the body, always I'M
wholesome, and especially so during
most sickness, contribute more than
you would believe to the vitiation of
the air. 1t must also be taken into
consideration that in most cases the
air admitted to the sickroom is not
perfectly pure. This is especially
so in cities. 1t is therefore all the
more necessary that the air should
be often renewed. You must sys-
tematically change it, knowing the
laws of supply and demand and the
danger of disregarding these laws.
How shall air be changed? "Doors
are made to shut, windows are made
to open.' In hospital this may
not be so necessary. In a private
house an open fire ventilates room
with ten persons in it. But stove
does not. Few people catch cold in
bed if the temperature is right. There
are many disadvantages of small
bedrooms. Fresh air is not neces
sarily cold air. You can bring air
in through another room and warm
it there. Did you ever go into a
small room where a person had been
sleeping for even short time with
out detecting bad air? How much
more important to sick person who
cannot leave his quarters, that the
air should be thoroughly changed.
Do not leave anything standing in
a sick room that can vitiate the air.
Milk must not stand in a room. 1t
is bad custom of burning coffee,
rags and pastiles. Open dishes with
evaporating solutions, such as car
bolic acid, ETC., do no good. Bad
air causes vertigo, headache and de-
lirium. Wash basins must be kept
full of water. They are bad, any
way. Do not turn a lamp down low.
Do not leave half-washed clothes or
clothing to evaporate into the air.
We are not liable to appreciate
the function of light upon plants and
animals, but no one is dull enough
to see the results and effects of sun
shine. l speak of light as meaning
sunshine. No artificial light yet dis
covered possesses the properties Of
sunlight. A potato that sprouts in a
cellar, OF grass that grows under. a
board in the spring, is as sure to be
pale and sickly as is the girl who
dances all night and dozes all day in
a darkened room. Light is to the
sick man what light is to the plant.
There are various properties of sun
light aside from the property of heat.
Plants will grow in artificially warm
ed rooms if exposed to light, but
will not grow in place which sun
light warns but does not illuminate.
The suns rays have an influence
on the processes of digestion and re-
pair of living tissues as 1t does on
the growth of plants. Therefore,
unless there are decided reasons to
the contrary, let sickroom always
be light. In grave cases of illness,
where the brain is clouded by fever
or by some poison in the blood,
the objects in the room should be
distinctly seen in order that hallu-
cinations of sight may not come on
and delirum follow.
Dimly seen objects and half shad-
owy appearances within the sick
chamber add to the confusion of the
mind produced by sickness, and tor
ture the patient unnecessarily. Where
there is tendency to delirum the
lamps at night should be so disposed
that the objects first seen by the pa
tent on awakening shall be distinct.
In conclusion the speaker gave a
few hints regarding the furniture,
the manner of making the beds and
the clothing to be used on the bed
in a sick rOOm.-EG.
Tartare sauce is made of a cupful
of mayonnaise dressing, to which is
added one tableSDOon each of olives