The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-06-04
HEAT is LIFE.
The Best Remedies Prescribed fog
Various Ailments Include
Warmth.

The value of hot applications in cases
of pain would seem to be well under.
stood, yet, from observation during the
past seasons of grippe, | believe that
more attention should be paid to the
simple, safe and convenient remedial
agent, dry heat. Day or night, this is
something that can be had in the home
at short notice, and, if promptly re-
sorted to instead of waiting the arrival
of the doctor, it may help greatly tn
ward of the most serious consequences
The heat of fire and an abundance OF
soft, substantial flannel are all that is
wanted. To be locally applied, that is,
where only part of the person is to be
covered, flannel undergarments are ex.
cellent for the purpose, and the more
folds the better for the retention OF
heat.
Or it may be merely gathered into
bunch by the attendant, carried quick
" from the fire to the bed, and settled
upon the seat of the trouble with such
spreading out as is desirable, under the
bedclothes. Whichever way it is done,
let every HUT Vi lHt BOOdN NC iiiNd
with heat, although scorching is I'M
necessary. In the severity of an attack.
the dry ponltice should be renewed
every ten or fifteen minutes, two pieces
being kept alternately in process oil
heating and using. One real advantage
of dry-heat applications over cloths
wrung out of hot water or decoction
of herbs, Is that the patient finds IL
comforting and auieting, and has not
feeling or a fear of being burned; and
another quite as obvious is the absence
of dampness about the patients cloth.
ing and the bed. Further comparison
would touch upon the amount of work
devolving on the nurse, and still be in
favor of dry heat.
/ was once with person who had
night attack of what proved to be
catarrhal grippe. Chill was prom
inent symptom, the flesh of body and
limbs having the touch of a corpse.
Heat that would have made a salaman.
der vince, barely kept the victim above
a condition of ague, and it required sew.
eral hours of persistent effort to raise
the temperature.
The force of heat applied as have de.
scribed routed the enemy at last, and
was the basis of treatment that brought
the patient through form of the dis.
ease that is attended with many re.
| lapses. In the first of these, pneumonia
was strongly indicated, and a salt bag
was resorted to with results so entirely
satisfactory that thinI-in advertis.
Ing parlance-no household is complete
without it. Take a piece of flannel
three-quarters of yard long and hall
as wide Tor any other convenient size)
fold once and seam up the sides. Into
this bag put about quart of table salt
that has been made thoroughly hot in
d pan in the oven, or in frying pan
over the fire, with stirring; run bast.
ing across the top and it is ready to be
applied. Very effectual it is in collie
lumbago and acute rheumatism, the
salt being heated over as often as neces.
sary. In pleurisy, second bag ap
piled over the pulse in the wrist on the
side affected will aid in relieving the
pain.
My next-door neighbor had been
wrestling with la grippe, and, ventur
ing out after storm, when the street
crossings were deep with slush, re.
turned in an alarming plight, with one
wet foot and the other wetter. Those
feet were stripped before a CRATE
through which furnace was pouring
current of heat, and, after being
wiped and rubbed, had a plentiful ap.
plcation of refined petroleum. This
happened in the afternoon. Before
midnight the patient woke with hot
sword of rheumatism cleaying the
joints and marrow of the limb that had
been baptized in ice water. AS soon al
possible, it was swathed in plenty Of
heated tlannel-no cotton-and-wool rag
but flannel that is like prize fleece
and the single application was sufi
cient. No further III effects were eN
percnced from the dangerous exposure
-Lavinia s. Goodwin, in Housewife.