Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-01
TOY PISTOL AND LOCKJAw.
Cleanse and Cauterize the Wound Di
rectly After Injury.

From the New York Herald
he coming celebration of Independence
day by the irrepressible young patriot with
his frecracker and toy pistol will doubtless
bring with it the usual number of prevent
able accidents. eff only the injury had not
happened" will be the regretful comment of
| many who are destined to suffer, The fin
gers that will be lost, the number of hands
that will be MANNED, the eyes destroyed
and the quota of deaths from lockjaw will
tell the old story Of the fateful conse-
ounces of keeping the holiday in the ira
Gltional way.
Considering the dangers in store for the
noisy and VentureSome boy, it becomes a
serious question why the small pistol should
not be abolished altogether. OF what use
is 1t aside from the diSagreeable racket it
creates? In spite of all circumstances.
however. we Shall doubtless publish the or
binary lists of casualties in different parts
of the country, and especially those of
deaths from tetanus, as the direct result
of the foolish practice.
1t is well known that lockjaw more fire.
quently follows pistol wounds than any
other form of accident. The specific mi
crobe always does its most deadly work in
such punctured or lacerated injuries as are
inflicted by such small firearms. The rea-
sons for these are obvious when we know
how difficult it is to keep the hands of the
small rollicking boy IN cleanly condition.
Inc mlCTODe organism UelOHSS 10 the SOIL
propagates itself in ordinary garden earth
and also in the intestinal canal OF herbiver-
Gus animals. When it gains entrance
into torn tissues it multiplies it's poison at
first locally, and in the course of a few
days-ten to fifteenth tnvadeS the nervous
system and produces the well-known pain
full spasms of the different muscles.
The powder itself has little If anything to
do with the infection, unless 1t be acct
dentally or purposely mixed with soil. On
the other hand, the character of the wound
result. The symptoms Of poisoning do not
manifest themselves until several days
have elapsed Then the victim begins to
complain of slight stiffness in the neck or a
feeling of tightness in the jaws or diff
Guilty in swallowing. These phenomena are
followed by rigidity of the affected mus
cles which condition extends more or less
over the body and finally death occurs In
the agony of continuous and most painful
SpaSmS.
Recoveries are very few. in spite Of the
most heroic treatment by injections of the
tetanus antitoxin directly into the spinal
canal or into the substance of the brain.
The main hope for safety In any suspected
case is to cleanse the wound at once, to
remove all torn and dead tissue and finally
to properly cauteriZe it, thus destroying any
remaining poison that may be present. the
trouble is. however, that most of these In
juries are considered too trivia! for notice
until 1t is too late for merely local appli-
cations. l.,
But why should such accidents occur, IN
anv event. when they can be so radically
prevented by abolishing the toy pistol alto
1ether? Still, in spite OF these warnings
how many sad ones will be forced 10 say
| .If only it had not happenedY"