Lotions, Fomentations, Etc

External applications of various kinds are of so much use in the treatment of disease that a few directions as to their mode of use cannot be misplaced.

Lotions

These may be applied simply by frequently washing the surface with them. In scarlet fever the sponging with warm vinegar and water allays the irritation and heat of surface, and promotes the healthy functions of the skin. A more efficient method for an evaporating lotion is to soak one or two layers of soft linen or lint with the lotion, and laying them on the surface wet them again when they become dry. The drying takes place through the heat of the surface - the more rapidly, the higher the temperature of the part. An evaporating lotion is readily made by a wineglassful of gin or whisky in a pint of cold water.

Sedative Lotions

When the lotion is intended to act more by its sedative than by its evaporating effects, it will suffice to lay lint or linen soaked in it upon the surface, and cover it with oil silk or guttapercha tissue. Spongio-piline is a convenient medium for the application of sedative or other than evaporative lotions. Care, however, must be taken that it is not put on too wet, or the lotion will drain out and wet the clothing or bedding.

A sedative lotion is made by boiling half a pound of fresh hemlock-leaves or half a dozen poppy-heads in three pints of water down to a pint and a half.

Ice

A greater degree of cold is sometimes required to be applied to a small part of the surface, as in the case of a rupture or in fever when the headache and heat of the head are extreme.

A convenient mode of reducing the temperature of a part by ice is to pound some small and enclose it in a bladder, taking care first to squeeze out the superabundant air, and then to tie the neck of the bladder very tightly. The water in the bladder will continue at the temperature of the ice until every particle of it is melted.

Fomentations are of very great value in the relief of pain of internal organs and of large joints when inflamed. They are apart of the nurse's duties which require promptitude and judgment. If a large joint - a knee, for instance - be inflamed, much benefit is derived from swathing the joint in flannels wrung out of hot water, and wrapping these again in dry outer flannels. Fomentations likewise are of great use in inflammation of the chest or of the bowels. The hot wet flannels should be put on quickly, and changed quickly, about every five minutes, so as to avoid exposure to the cold air. They may be continued half an hour or more if they do not fatigue the patient.

Turpentine Stupes are hot fomentations, with spirits of turpentine sprinkled on the flannels. These cannot be applied so long as half an hour - the heat and pungency of the application is too much to be tolerated beyond fifteen or twenty minutes. They may be repeated twice a day.

Wet Sheet

In fevers with great heat of skin, wrapping the whole body in a wet sheet, and then enclosing in a blanket for an hour or more, will sometimes cause the skin to break into a profuse perspiration, reduce the heat of the skin, and moderate the pulse. In some affections of the kidney, attended with dryness of the skin and absence of perspiration, the wet sheet has been known to restore the action of the skin and relieve the kidneys. The wet sheet is, however, so much a part of the hydropathic treatment of disease that it can scarcely be safely or properly used apart from the medical supervision with all the means and appliances of a hydropathic establishment.