This will comprise such hints and advice as will enable any one to act on an emergency, or in ordinary trivial accidents requiring simple treatment; and also to distinguish between serious and simple accidents, and the best means to adopt in all cases that are likely to fall under a person's notice. These hints will be of the utmost value to the heads of families, to emigrants, and to persons who are frequently called upon to attend upon the sick. We strongly recommend the Parent, Emigrant or Nurse, to read over these directions occasionally, to regard it as a duty to do so at least three or four times a year, so as to be prepared for emergencies whenever they may arise. When accidents occur, people are too excited to acquire immediately a knowledge of what they should do; and mary lives have been lost for want of this knowledge. Study, therefore, at moderate intervals the Domestic Surgery, Treatment of Poisons, Rules for the Prevention of Accidents, How to Escape from Fires, theDomestic Pharmacopoeia, etc, which will be found in various pages of Enquire Within. And let it be impressed upon your mind that THE INDEX will enable you to refer to anything you may require in x moment. Don't trouble to hunt through the pages; but when you wish to Enquire Within, remember that the Index is the knocker, by which the door of knowledge may be opened.

2187. Dressings

Dressings are substances usually applied to parts for the purpose of soothing, promoting their reunion when divided, protecting them from external injuries, as a means of applying various medicines, to absorb discharges, protect the surrounding parts and securing cleanliness.

2188. Instruments Required For The Application Of Dressings In Domestic Surgery

Scissors, a pair of tweezers, or simple forceps, a knife, needles and thread, a razor, a lancet, a piece of lunar caustic in a quill, and a 6ponge.

2189. The materials required for dressings, consist of lint, scraped linen, carded cotton, tow, ointment spread on calico, adhesive plaster, compresses, pads, poultices, old rags of linen or calico, and water.

2190. The following rules should bo attended to in applying dressings:-1. Always prepare the new dressings before removing the old one. 2. Always have hot and cold water at hand, and a vessel to place the foul dressings in. 3. Have one or more persons at hand ready to assist, and tell each person what they are to do before you commence, it prevents confusion; thus one is to wash out and hand the sponges, another to heat the adhesive plaster, or hand the bandages and dressings, and, if requisite, a third to support the limb, etc. 4. Always stand on the outside of a limb to dress it.

5. Place the patient in as easy a position, as possible, so as not to fatigue him.

6. Arrange the bed after changing the dressings, but in some cases you will have to do so before the patient is placed on it. 7. Never be in a hurry when applying dressings, do it quietly. 8. When a patient requires moving from one bed to another, the best way is for one person to stand on each side of the patient, and each to place an arm behind his back, while he passes his arms over their necks; then let their other arms be passed under his thighs, and by holding each other's hands, the patient can be raised with ease, and removed to another bed. If the leg is injured a third person should steady it, and if the arm, the same precaution should be adopted. Sometimes a stout sheet is passed under the patient, and by several people holding the sides, the patient is lifted without any fatigue or much disturbance.

2191. Lint may be made in a hurry, by nailing the corners of a piece of old linen to a board, and scraping its surface with a knife. It is used either alone or spread with ointment. Scraped lint is the fine filaments from ordinary lint, and is used to stimulate ulcers and absorb discharges; it is what the French call Charpie.

2192. Scraped Lint is made into various shapes, for particular purposes. For example, when it is screwed up into a conical or wedge-like shape, it is called a tent, and is used to dilate fistulous openings, so as to allow the matter to escape freely, to plug wounds, bo as to promote the formation of a clot of blood, and thus arrest bleeding. When it is rolled into little balls they are called boulettes, and are used for absorbing matter in cavities, or blood in wounds. Another useful form is made by rolling a mass of scraped lint into a long roll, and then tying it in the middle with a piece of thread; the middle is then doubled and pushed into a deep-seated wound so as to press upon the bleeding vessel, while the ends remain loose and assist in forming a clot, or it is used in deep-seated ulcers to absorb the matter and keep the edges apart. This form is called the bourdonna Another form is called the pelote, which is merely a ball of scaped lint tied up in a piece of linen rag, commonly called a dabber. This is used in the treatment of protrusion of the navel in Children.

2193. Carded Cotton is used as a dressing for superficial burns, an care should be taken to free it fron specks, as flies are apt to lay their egg there, and generate maggots.

2194. Tow is chiefly employed as padding for splints, as compresses, an also as an outer dressing where ther is much discharge from a surface.

2195. Ointments are spread on calicoes, lint, or even thin layers of tow by means of a knife; they should not be spread too thick.

2196. Adhesive Plaster is cut into strips, ranging in width according to the nature of the wound, etc, but the usual width is about three-quarters of an inch. Isinglass plaster is not so irritating as diachylon, and is more easily removed.

2197. Compresses are made of pieces of linen, calico, lint, or tow, doubled or cut into various shapes. They are used to confine dressings in their places, and to apply an equal pressure on parts. They should be free from darns, hems, and knots. Ordinary compresses are square, oblong, and triangular The pierced compress, is made by folding up a square piece of linen five or six times on itself, and then nicking the surface with scissors, so as to cut out small pieces. It is then opened out, and spread with ointment. It is applied to discharging surfaces, for the purpose of allowing the matter to pass freely through the holes, and is frequently covered with a thin layer of tow. Compresses are also made in the shape of a Maltese cross, and half a cross, sometimes split singly, and at other times doubly: or they are graduated by placing square pieces of folded cloth on one another, so arranged that they de-crease in size each time. They are used for keeping up pressure upon certain parts.

2193. Pads are made by sewing tow inside pieces of linen, or folding linen and sewing the pieces together. They are used to keep off pressure from parts, such as that caused by splints in fractures.

2199 Poult.ccs are usually made of linseed-meal, oatmeal, or bread, either combined with water and other fluids; sometimes they are made of carrots, charcoal, potatoes, yeast, and linseed-meal, mustard, etc. (See 3313.)