A treatise on pharmacy : designed as a text-book for the student, and as a guide for the physician and pharmacist, containing the officinal and many unofficinal formulas, and numerous examples of extemporaneous prescriptions / by Edward Parrish.

Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on pharmacy : designed as a text-book for the student, and as a guide for the physician and pharmacist, containing the officinal and many unofficinal formulas, and numerous examples of extemporaneous prescriptions / by Edward Parrish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    APPENDIX. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF A SICK CHAMBER. The following hints on the management of the sick chamber are chiefly from the pen of a lady of intelligence and experience. Although ad- dressed especiall_y to nurses, they should be carefully studied by prac- titioners of medicine, upon whom the responsibilit}^ of giving direction to the conduct of the sick chamber mainly devolves. Ventilation. Few persons who are in the habit of visiting the sick can have failed to notice the great clifTerence in the state of the air, in chambers where cleanliness and good management have been in exercise, and those wherein the value and importance of neatness and the careful admission of a free current of fresh air have been overlooked. If, then, temporar}^ visitors are sensible of the difference, how much more deeply interested must the suffering patient be in the attainment of a free and healthy atmosphere; Cleanliness. Since it is often difficult to get a sick room swept, it may be desirable, if it can be done unheard, to get at least a part of the carpeting away now and then, that it may be well shaken. A few tea-leaves may be thrown over a part of the room at a time, and very quietlj' taken up with a hand-brush. And in those cases which are not at all critical, and where anything damp can be admitted into the room with impuuit}-, a mop, which, after being dipped in water, has been well trundled., i^^J be just used for a few minutes to remove the flue from under the bed; or it may be very carefully passed over a carpet, if nailed down. Change of Posture, Arrangement of the Bed, etc. It is scarcely to be believed, until experienced, the relief from suffering wliich a change of posture produces; neither is it generally thought of, how much alleviation could bo attained in many instances, even by the fresh cording of the sacking, with special attention to a level position; a hard bed or mattress, for a sulfei'lng invalid, is not recommended, but an arrangement for a level position will often afford great comfort. The sacking first tightly corded (but splines instead of sacking are much better), then a straw palliasse, which, if not newly made, ought to be raised by a fresh supply of straw in tiic middle, where a heavy |)ressure may have rendered it uneven; over tliis, a good feather bed, which ought to be gently pressed and made level, then a mattress, composed first of a thick bed of horseliair, and well overlaid with excellent long wool; it ought to have room for the bed-post at each of its four corners, so that it