The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-30
Home Nursing
By NI. JESSIE LEITCH

TV4E hottest day of summer lay over
 the great city like pail, suf-
 locating and stifling with it's burning glare.
 The tar in the pavements bubbled stickiIy and ruined white shoes for ever.
 Horses ambled past wearing absurd hats of straw, with dripping sponges within. Here and there a limp crowd surged for a moment and fell back to 5 make way for the ambulance. "'An- other heat case," the young surgeon would say savagely, because he was so hot and weary and head-achy himself that he envied the person who could collapse on the sidewalk. He was on duty!
 It was the usual thing-in such weather.
 "Sunstroke, poor wretch" a man on the sidewalk would say, and stop at the next drinking fountain to scoop up cool water and saturate his handkerchief, placing it inside his hat furtively and walking on with the feeling that an other day like this would be disastrous.
 The sky was brassy Heat shuddered up from the ground like smoke.
 The truth about these occasional days of OyerpOwering heat is that sensible people who do not haye<tO go out of doors should stay inside. rather than flirt with possibilities of sunstrOke.
 The youth who boasts that ''the hot ter it is the better I like it" and there's nothing like a hot day for tennis, " may be the very one who is rushed off next in the ambulance.
 SunstrOke, condition caused by ex- posture to excessive heat, is a very dan gerOu condition.
 It is generally caused by direct ex- posture to the rays of the sun, or pro- lOnged exposure to excessive heat (if working indOOrs) in badly ventilated room.
 Heavy clOthingN will help cause sun stroke because it prevents the heat from radiating from the body.
 When walking in the strong sunlight the head and eyes should always be protected from the direct rays of the sun.
 Unnecessary fatigue or exercise should be avoided in the middle of the day.
 Light clothing, porous underwear, and light weight, well ventilated hats should be worn in very warm weather.
 The first symptoms of sunstroke are usually pain in the head and a feeling of oppression. The face becomes red and the patient quickly loses conscious ness. The skin will be dry and burn ing. The pupils-Of the eyes dilate. Breathing will be feeble and gasping, or signing and labOred. The pulse will be rapid and very full. There is no precipitation.
 Treatment consists in reducing the body temperature. The sufferer should be removed to a cool place and doe tor summoned at once. Sunstroke is sometimes fatal. Clothing should be : IoOsened and as much removed as pos sible. A recumbent position is best, of course. The face, chest and arms may be freely faved with cold water, but no sfimulants should be given without a doctors order. When the patient be- gins to recover he should be given cold water to drink freely.
 Heat prostration, so often confused with sunstrOke, is entirely different.
 The sufferer is completely prOstrat- ed and the attack begins with dizziness, nausea and perhaps vomiting. There is great weakness and depression, but rarely inconsistencies. The face will be pale and covered with sweat, the pulse weak and rapid, the breathing shallow. Loosen clothes, have sufferer lie down in a cool placeNRnd give mild stimulants. as coffee, or aromatic spirits of ammonia while waiting for the dog tors arrival. Recovery from heat prOstration is much quicker than from <gunstr9ke-