The Irish standard., 1891-09-26
EMERGENCY REMEDIES.


EMERGENCY REMEDIES.
Facts Showing That Every Trade
Has It's Special Physic.
Many Strange and Simple Cures Not
Practiced Among Physicians
Fish and Eel Skins
for Rheumatism.
Every man to his trade. A man is
either fool or a physician at forty.
Here are two ancient adages which sug-
gest combination. Every trade has
it's special physic. This is true. In
conversation the other day with Re-
corder reporter New York surgeon re-
marked that few things gave more pain,
attended with so much danger, as some
particles of lime dust in the eye. A
gentleman standing by quietly re-
marked: 'And yet such an accident is
of daily occurrence, is attended hardly
with any danger, and is most easily
treated" elbow sop came chorus of
voices.
s'Wel, will tell you. was brought
up to the trade of a plasterer-a ceiling
plasterer You may not know that the
final layer upon a good ceiling is almost
pure lime. The plasterer stands upon
d platform and lays on the paste. 1t
falls upon him in every direction, and,
especially it he is new hand, often a
spatter falls right into his eye. When
he gets accustomed to the work the eye
lid seems to get used to it, too, and
seems to close automatically in self-de-
Tense. Directly such an accident occurs
a fellow-workman takes a mouthful of
water from the nearest pail-and there
is always pail Of water handy-opens
the eye as wide as possible and squirts
with all his force the contents Of his
mouth against the eyeball. This imme-
dately cools the lime and also drives it
out of the eye. Simple remedy, isn't it,
and eminently practical. But you see
a mans eye would be burned out long
before he could reach the nearest doc
tors"
Immediately other gentlemen had
something to tell. One was wine
merchant my cellarmen have fun
ny way of stopping bleeding. They
think nothing of q cut finger or hand,
or even a large wound. They run to
the nearest spirit caslz, or claret if spir-
it's are not handy, and let few drops
fall on the wound. It acts as an imme-
date styptic. Then big dusty old cob'
web is taken from the nearest bottle or
corner of bin, and clapped on tight
over the cut or abrasion. Cobwebs are
splendid healing agents
ssSailors,'' said another, "are never at
q loss under such circumstances: their
favorite styptic at sea is bit of unrav-
eled tarred rope. On land they will
take the quid of tobacco from their
cheek or the lining of their cap, and the
effect is astonishing. But nave seen a
man wild drunk after such a quid had
been tied over the wound. I suppose the
nicotine gets into the blood and acts as
an intoxicant."
"Carpenters, said another gentle
man, ''if they cut themselves, pick up
handful of fine shavings and clap them
on to the wound, and joiners smear a
dab of glue; but one Of the quaintest
things ever saw used was by an old
farmer up in Chester county. He got
his hand badly torn by bit Of old wire
fence, and he bled considerably. With
out thought he stopped down and dug
up a handful of soil, spat on it, and
worked it quickly into paste, and laid
it on the wound and bound it up with
his neckerchief. In an astonishingly
short time he was at work again rs ii
nothing had happened"
"Can anyone tell me the therapeutic
al value of fasting splitter" asked q
quiet man. Il know that old wives, as
the saying is, take great stock in it for
warts, birthmarks, corns, bruises, and
even small cuts. Indeed, old nurses
seem to believe that their saliva in the
morning before taking food is pana-
cea for every kind of skin complaint.
But did you ever hear of an old beaver
or silk hat being used as a styptic? You
will find it capital one, and for burns
and scalds, if placed over the wound in
sufficient quantity to keep out the air,
it will draw out the heat rapidly, as
any hat manufacturer will vouch."
"We are getting a little off the track"
said one, ''when we talk of fasting
spittle; deep sea fishermen and fish
mongers generally hold that nothing is
better than d piece of fish skin. Eel
skins are commonly used to cure rheu-
matism. and are considered infallible
by some. A negro minstrel once told
me that nothing stopped bleeding and
assisted natures healing work SO we'll
as burned cork. Thus every trade and
profession has it's own emergency rem
edies, as the doctor called them just
now, and doubtless the list might be ex-
ended to every trade known"
Fer Buzzing Saved Her.
A tramp made a big mistake the 9TH
er day at Wicasset, says Maine ex-
change. He entered schoolhouse
.-.1>..o IF the