19 March 1881 - 'Some Useful Hints on Surgery' by Medicus - Part Two

I should not like to think that any of my girl readers were in the habit of teasing either dog or cat, and thus falling victims to a well-deserved bite or scratch, but I am not quite so sure about their brothers. Well then, if your brother has been naughty towards a dog, and the animal has retaliated, as dogs, according to Dr. Watts's hymns, have a perfect right to do, you must not for a single moment imagine there is any danger to be apprehended from the bite. Nothing is more harmless than a cut from the tooth of a dog that is not actually rabid at the time; his going mad on some future day would not have the slightest effect upon the person bitten. Nevertheless, to comfort the naughty boy and allay his fears, something should be done to the bite. If water is quite handy the bitten part should be laved in it; this, in itself, if the water were cold enough, would cause contraction of the vessels and prevent the absorption of any poison. The bite must next be sucked well, and afterwards washed in salt and water. If any other treatment is necessary, the sufferer should be taken to a chemist, in order that the wound may be cauterised with nitrate of silver. In nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand there is no necessity for having a dog bite cauterised, except that it warns the youth who has been teasing the animal, and teaches him not to do so again.

Scratches from cats are not poisonous, only they seldom heal very kindly, because, like a cut with a rusty nail, they leave a ragged wound. They should be carefully washed to get rid of any dirt /t may lodge in them; and, if deep, bound up with a wet rag or, better still, a morsel of lint wetted in warm water with a little oiled silk placed over it. In a day or two, a simple dressing with cold cream, to exclude the air, will be all that is required.

We are very fortunate in this country in one way; our climate may well be called fickle and changeable, but we are free from the swarms of noxious insects and reptiles that make life in the tropics almost unendurable to us Europeans. We have no deadly tarantulas, no dreaded scorpions, nor six-inch-long centipedes. These creatures never creep from under our pillows; nor, while walking in our gardens, do venomous snakes hiss at us as they hang from the rose trees. We have, it is true, one poisonous serpent, the lovely little viper; but he seldom appears, and when he does he is far more afraid of you than you can be of him. But in summer seasons, when plums are plentiful and the farmers talk about potatoes as "a grand crop," we have in the country wasps in millions, and few escape being stung at least once before the cold weather comes on, and one ought to know what to do when such an accident occurs. There is no getting over the fact that certain people are more apt to be stung than others. I myself am a martyr to the playfulness of these yellow bees. I think they like to sting good people best, that is my way of looking at it; but I have some friends who permit wasps to alight upon and crawl upon their hands or faces. One day last summer I was prevailed upon by a lady relation, to allow one to alight on the back of my hand. This particular wasp just walked about the length of two of my knuckles, then he stopped as I said f some happy thought had just occurred to him. Next moment the wasp was calmly flying away through the open window, and I, the victim of misplaced confidence, was rushing frantically away  for the ammonia bottle. Yes, that is the cure - ammonia, strong hartshorn; just wet the stoper of the bottle and put it on the part that has been stung. Hive bees always leave the sting, wasps only sometimes, but if they do so, it must be carefully extracted. If no hartshorn be at hand, try salt and water, or strong soda (washing soda), then rub the part with olive oil.

In wooded portions of the country, especially where the land lies low and flat, young people suffer greatly while in bed at night from the bites of gnats. These things are really second cousins to the real mosquitos, and the bite raises a swelling just as painful. Here again ammonia is the cure. I have known cases where delicate girls and children were quite fevered from the loss of rest and blood poisoning, caused by the bites of these tormenting insects. The febrile disturbance is accompanied by weakness and nervous depression; it is best relieved by the tincture of yellow bark, a small teaspoonful in water three or four times a day. Coffee also does good; it may be made in the morning and drunk cold in small quantities during the day, without either milk or sugar.

Those who walk much in grassy paddocks or orchards are often bitten by an extremely , almost invisibly, small insect called the harvest bug; touching the spot with hartshorn destroys the poison and kills the animalcule if it has burrowed. The swelling and pain occasioned by the bite is best allayed by rubbing the part with spirits of camphor.

Children sometimes, while eating fish, especially if eating hurriedly, a habit which is most prejudicial to digestion, have the misfortune to get a bone stuck in the throat. It is usually a small one, s that some attempt should be made to immediately get it down. Swallowing a morsel of bread only half chewed may do this. If not, and the bone can be seen or felt, it should be hooked out with the fingers. Choking on a piece of meat is a terrible accident. Medical aid should be at one summoned; but very often this is too late, and the victim to hurry in eating is dead ere he arrives. A smart blow or two on the back will often tend to dislodge a piece of meat or food of any kind stuck in the throat, but if any attempt at swallowing can be made, a tablespoonful of salad oil should be taken.

Talking of things sticking in the throat brings me to say a word or two about foreign bodies in other places.

In the eye, for example. While walking or riding on a summer's evening or afternoon, minute flying beetles often get into the eye. These tiny little gentlemen, as soon as the alight anywhere, immediately fold up their wings and put them away under a kind of tippet they wear over their shoulders like a policeman's cape. I suppose they do this to teach human beings always to take the greatest care of their best things. Well, if one of these little beetles gets into your eye, and you have no companion b you to remove it with the corner of a handkerchief, gentle rubbing of the eyelid in one direction will bring it to the inner corner of the eye, from which the finger alone will be able to remove it. Or if this fails, lifting up one eyelid so as to get the other under it to sweep it will usually be effectual, but no harshness should be used.

Now, I know that any girl who can read this magazine is too old to be likely to amuse herself by poking peas or beans up her nostrils, but her tiny brother or sister may, by way of gaining new experiences. When such a thing happens the foreign substance must be dislodged somehow. A pinch of snuff - it must be a very tiny one - will often be effective by causing it to be sneezed out. And there is a right way and a wrong way of giving snuff to a child with this end in view. For the snuff must be drawn in very gently, else the pea itself may be sent further in, as, before sneezing, the breath is drawn in; you must hold the child's nose momentarily in order that he may take in his breath only by the mouth. Well, if this fails, you should take the child on your knee, lay him on his back, hold the nose above the pea to prevent it from getting farther back, and with the point of a bodkin slightly bent, you must get it under the object, and try to hook it out. If you fail, medical assistance must be had recourse to.

When a pea gets into the ear, the bent end of a hair-pin may be used to dislodge it, or a stream or water thrown in with a syringe to float it out. The ear may also be syringed to get rid of a fly or earwig, the annoyance from which, if lodged in the ear, is most distressing, not to say alarming. But olive oil had better be dropped into the ear first; this will kill the insect, and very likely also dislodge it.

When a ring cannot be removed from the finger,  it is just as much matter out of place as a pea in the nose or fly in the eye or ear. It is apt, too, to give rise to much pain and swelling. When you have tried in vain to remove the ring from your oiled or well-soaped finger, give up any further exertion for an hour or two, then after placing the hand in the coldest water for a minute or two and wiping it dry, take a long and fine thread and roll it tightly and closely round all the finger in front of the offending ring, beginning at the extreme tip, and as soon as you reach the ring, slip the end through beneath, and endeavour to work it gradually off. Failing this, it must be filed off, and this a surgeon must do.

The accident which is generally designated by the name of sprain or strain, is simply a stretching or wrenching of one of the tendons near a joint, or it may be even the laceration of one of the ligaments of the joint. There is usually much pain or tenderness and swelling. A very bad sprain may require the application of leeches to subdue the swelling. An ordinary sprain should be gently rubbed - remembering the rubbing must not cause much pain, no "thumbing" should be permitted - it should, I say, be gently rubbed with some such stimulating embrocation as opodeldoc, and then swathed in a flannel bandage, or hot fomentations may be necessary to soothe the pain and allay the swelling and inflammation; this may be followed by the application of a soothing brain poultice at bedtime. Rest of the sprained joint must be carefully enjoined, if it be a foot, a knee, or ankle it ought to be raised on a pillow at night and on a chair by day; if it be the wrist or hand it should be carried in a sling. Make no attempt to use the sprained joint until all the pain is gone, and even then you must be careful. The stiffness which often remains, accompanied sometimes with swelling, is best removed by salt water douches, or by pouring cold water from a height on the part.

When the pain from a sprain is very severe, great relief is obtained from the laudanum fomentation. An ordinary fomentation means the application of flannels wrung as hot as the hands will bear it; a laudanum fomentation is made by simply pouring a teaspoonful or two of tincture of opium on the flannel before it is applied. The mustard fomentation is used to the chest when during a cold the cough gives much pain. Here the flannels are wrung out of water in which two or three good handfuls of mustard have been mixed. It reddens the skin and gives much relief. The turpentine fomentation is also a good one in the same kind of cases; a tablespoonful of turpentine is poured upon the heated flannel and the chest well rubbed with it, or it may be simply laid upon the chest and changed for another hot flannel as soon as it begins to cool down.

11 December 1880 - 'Comedones' by Medicus

Blackheads. He's talking about blackheads. 

Comedones! I think I can see before me even now the puzzled looks of numbers of my fair young readers as they read the title of this little article. Comedones! What is it? OR what are they? Or whatever do they do? Had it been by anyone else but by Medicus you might fancy it was the name of some nice little tale, but being by Medicus, "of course," you will say, "it must be something nasty  and physic.'"

Well, not to keep you any longer in suspense, the word "comedones" is the technical name of a little ailment concerning which some of you are always consulting me. It is an affection of the skin, principally of the face, which girls call "those nasty little tick things," or "small black specks."

"Well, you ask me," "and what are they? What will cure them? Answer me quick."

"No, I reply; "I refuse to be hurried, but you shall have answer all the same. Listen."

You have all heard of the pores of the skin. They, as you know, secret perspiration. But there are also in the skin numerous tiny outlets from glands, h secrete an oily lubricating substance, which keeps the skin pliant and soft. Like every other gland and organ in the body, these little bodies are subject to many different derangements, of which I shall not speak at present. Suffice it to say that one of them gives rise to the affection called comedones (from comedo, to eat up, or devour). It is simply a hardening or drying up of the contents of the tubes of the glands. These latter are unable to force out the secretion, and so it distends the skin, and can be squeezed out.

"Why has it a black head?" you inquire. The black point is merely caused by the smoke or dust of the atmosphere. Sometimes it gives rise to pimples. The affection is most common among girls who live in towns, who do not take sufficient exercise to render the circulation in the skin duly active, or among girls who suffer from nervousness.

If the unpleasant-looking things are left long in and undisturbed, they get as hard as horns, and when they are finally squeezed out they leave a little pit. I have known cases in which, from no other treatment having been adopted except that of simply pressing them out with the fingers or nails, the skin of the face came to assume quite a pitted surface all over.

As I have already told you that these disfiguring specks are caused by an inactive state of the skin, you will readily perceive, then, that removing this state is the proper way to get rid of them. The morning soap bath to the whole body will greatly aid the cure, and plenty of friction should be used. Then to the face soap should be applied and well rubbed in twice or thrice a day, morning and night at all events; then, after drying it, rub well with a rough towel. Do not be afraid of spoiling your complexion. You will do quite the reverse - you will improve it, although there may be redness of the skin for a little time.

After this thorough washing and rubbing of the face, you may apply a little Eau de Cologne, with just one grain of corrosive sublimate to the ounce. As corrosive sublimate is a deadly poison, this lotion must be compounded by a chemist. Exercise must be taken in the open air, and plain, wholesome, non-stimulating food.

31 July 1880 - Useful Hints

FIG PUDDING - One half-pound of figs, one half-pound of bread-crumbs, one half-pound of sugar, one half-pound of beef suet, three eggs. Remove the skin from the suet, chop it very finely, put it into a bowl, and, chopping the figs very finely, mix both together. Stir into this the bread-crumbs, beat in a separate bowl the eggs and sugar, mix this with the figs, suet, and bread-crumbs, and, greasing the interior of the mould, pour this into it, put on the cover, and plunging it into a large saucepan of boiling water, let it with its contents boil for two hours.

LEMON SAUCE - One lemon, six pieces of cut loaf sugar, one teacupful of cold water. Pare the rind from the lemon, and cut this into strips the size of a straw. Put these strips of lemon-rind into a small saucepan, together with the lumps of sugar, and, covering these with the cold water,  squeeze into the mixture the juice of the lemon. Put the saucepan over the fire, and stir the contents until boiling. When this takes place, cover the saucepan, and drawing it to one side of the fire, let all simmer slowly for twenty minutes. This sauce should be poured over the pudding with which it is served, in order that the straws of lemon-rind may garnish the top of the pudding.

LEMON CHEESE CAKES - Take 3 lemons - grating the rind and squeezing out the juice - 6 eggs, well whisked, and 1 pound of sifted or lump sugar. Put all into a jar, stand and boil in a pan of water till thick, stirring occasionally, for about three-quarters of an hour. Then cover and keep in a cool place.

LEMON SPONGE - One ounce of gelatine, one pint of water, two lemons, one half-pound of cut loaf sugar, whites of three eggs. Put the gelatine into a bowl, cover it with cold water, and let it soak for twenty minutes. At the end of this time add to it the rind of the lemons, squeeze over the lemon-juice, throw in the sugar, and pour all into a copper or porcelain-lined saucepan, place the saucepan over the fire, and stir its contents until boiling, after which it must be allowed to boil for two minutes. at the end of this time pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, and let it remain therein until cold, but not long enough to set. Beat the whites of eggs slightly, pour them into the mixture in the bowl, and stir all together, when all must be whisked until thick and white. Pour the sponge into a mould, stand it in a cool, dry place, and when "set," turn it out upon, and serve in, a crystal dessert dish.

WELCOME GUEST PUDDING - Eight ounces of bread-crumbs, one half-pint of milk, four ounces of beef suet, three ounces of citron, four ounces of sugar, rind of one lemon, one grain of salt. Place four ounces of the bread-crumbs in a bowl, and, bringing the milk to a boil, pour it over them. Cover the bowl with a plate, and allow the bread-crumbs to soak in the milk for ten minutes. While the bread-crumbs are soaking, pour over the almonds some boiling water to blanch them, and remove their skins. Remove the skin from the suet and chop it very finely, and chop the almonds. Stir into the bowl with the soaked bread-crumbs the four remaining ounces of crumbs, add to this the chopped suet and almonds, also the grated rind of lemon, together with the sugar and citron, cut into very small pieces. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs very carefully, drop the yolks one by one into the bowl, and stir all well together. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, adding the grain of salt. Mix this lightly with the other ingredients in the bowl, and, taking a quart mould, dry it thoroughly, greasing the interior with butter, pouring into it the mixture, and place securely over the top a greased sheet of kitchen paper. Place the mould, when filled, in a deep saucepan, containing enough water to reach halfway up the side, and let the pudding boil therein two hours. When done, the mould should be removed from the boiling water, allow two minutes for it to cool, and then turn the pudding out on the hot platter. This should be served with jam, or lemon sauce.

CHUTNEY - English chutney may be made thus: Take half-pound of mustard seed, half-pound of salt, half-pound of raisins (stoned), half-pound of brown sugar; six ounces of garlic, six ounces of cayenne pepper, one quart of gooseberries, one quart of the best vinegar. Dry and bruise the mustard, make a syrup of the sugar with half a pint of the vinegar, dry the gooseberries and boil in half a quart of the vinegar, and well bruise the garlic in a mortar. When cold, gradually mix and thoroughly amalgamate the whole in a mortar, and then tie down well. The longer preserved the better.

RICE CAKE - Four eggs, 1/2lb white sugar, pounded and sifted, - (this can be bought ready and is called castor sugar), 1/2lb rice flour, a teaspoonful of baking powder, and a few drops of essence of lemon or almond. Beat the eggs ten minutes, add the sugar and beat ten minutes more, then the flavouring and rice flour, first mixing the baking powder with the latter, and beat five minutes more. Bake in a well-buttered mould in a moderate heated oven. N.B. Always break each egg into a cup separately, and be sure it is perfectly sweet before mixing it with others. The smallest trace of taint or staleness will spoil the whole.

WASH FOR SORE MOUTH - 1 teaspoonful powdered borax, 1 dessertspoonful of glycerine, 1 dessertspoonful of tincture of myrrh. Dissolve borax in a little water, and mix it with the other ingredients in a four-ounce bottle. Fill up with pure water, shake well, and wash the mouth three times a day. The little white ulcers which are so painful in the mouth may be *just touched with a solid caustic pencil, and the mouth rinsed either with the above wash or with 1/2 a teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh, in a wine glass of water. Sometimes the ulcer may be cured by touching occasionally with pure tincture of myrrh, just in the centre.

ANOTHER WASH FOR SORE MOUTH - A teaspoonful of powdered borax, a tablespoonful of honey, and four oz of water, well mixed together. Hold in the mouth for a short time. These washes are not intended to be swallowed; but contain no injurious ingredients if a little should go down the throat.

NICE TEA CAKES - To two pounds of flour add two ounces of butter and two ounces of lard; mix them well together, then beat up four eggs to a light froth and add them to a pint of milk, with a teaspoonful of salt - pour this gradually on the flour and work it well for about eight or ten minutes. Cut the dough with a sharp knife, and roll it into thin cakes the size of a breakfast saucer. Bake them in a quick oven. Currants may be added if preferred.

The soles of boots may be made waterproof by melting a little bee's wax and mutton suet, and rubbing some slightly on the edges of the sole over the stitches.

WORSTED and lambswool stockings should not be mended with worsted or lambswool, as the new material will shrink more than the stockings, and render them short and shapeless. Soft cotton will be found better, unless the wool can be shrunk before using it.

TO CLEAN SILK - The following method has the advantage of not giving a cleaned appearance to the dresses so treated - Honey, 1/4lb; gin, 1/2 gill; soft soap, 1/4lb; boiling water, 1 1/2 pints, mix and allow to stand until blood warm. Spread the garment upon a table, on which a cloth has been previously placed. There must be no gathers. Dip a nail-brush into the mixture and rub the silk well in those places most soiled and spotted, then with a sponge to go over the whole breadth generally, rubbing gently. Then rinse the silk in cold water, hang it up to drain, and iron whilst damp. The quantity given is sufficient for a plain dress.

29 May 1880 - 'Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet' by Medicus

"Like dew on the gowans lying
Is the fa' o' her faity feet,
And like winds in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet."
"Annie Laurie."

The poet evidently sings of his lady-love; that a child might understand, and the simile expressed in the first two lines could not well be sweeter. "Gowans," I should tell my English readers, is a word signifying mountain daisies - the wee, modest, crimson-tipped flowers mentioned in the verses of the rustic bard. It is very natural for a young girl to wish to have pretty hands and I would have them lissom as well as pretty. A shapely hand is one that is moderately small and plump, the fingers beautifully tapered, the joints supple, and the nails delicate and well formed. it is in youth the hands should be take especial care of. I do not advocate too hard work for any girl, but I do aver that the hands, if they are to be shapely, are not to be idle. If they are, I'll tell you what will happen  they will grow long and lank, and bony; and if there is any tendency to indigestion or to rheumatism, it is just possible that the joints may get thicker than they ought. Even such simple work as sewing, knitting, embroidering, painting, or playing gives just that amount of exercise to the hands and fingers which is necessary to keep them in a healthy shape.

The nails require care to keep them nice. They should be seen to every day at toilet. What are called hang-nails, or, by some, rag-nails, is a very painful affection, which can very easily be prevented. In this way - three times a week the skin that overlaps the lower end of the nail should be well pushed downwards, because if it is allowed to attach itself to the nail the skin gets stretched and torn. It should always be pushed back but never cut. The free end of the nail should be pared with a knife or cut with a scissors into the shape required. The inner part of the free edge of the nails should be kept perfectly clean with a crush and soap and water, but not interfered with by knife or scissors. The surface of the nail should never be scraped. The white spots which appear on the nails of the young at times are not dangerous, although they don't look pretty. They are caused by hurts or blows.

When the hands are well taken care of and moderately exercised, they should be of a beautiful delicate pinkish white colour, and as soft as the finest satin. Exposure to any amount of daylight does them good, exposure to the sun turns them brown or yellow, exposure to cold and wet hardens and kills the skin, and produces roughness and chaps. Gloves, then, are worn in summer to protect the hands from the sun, and in winter from the cold. The wrists at both seasons should be protected - by kid in summer, by fur in winter. When at any time the hands feel uncomfortably hot the gloves ought to be taken off; by retaining them at such a time you are only spoiling the life and beauty of your hands. Some girls, especially those with a somewhat delicate constitution and tender skin, suffer much from chapped hands after exposure to cold or to wet. At times this is so painful and persistent an affection that the doctor should be called in. But if this should not be deemed necessary, so long as the hands are bad kid gloves should be worn not only by day, but by night as well. If it is persistent, the hands had better be damped with a solution of potash and water - half a dram of the solution to one ounce of water, and then afterwards dressed with the benzoated oxide of zinc ointment, to which a drop or two of otto of roses has been added.

But any one suffering from chapped hands should take a little medicine to cool the blood about twice a week, and if at all weak, either the quinine wine already recommended or the tincture of iron, or a little of both. If the stomach is weak, much advantage will be obtained by using a teaspoonful of gentian bitter in half a wineglassful of water before breakfast and dinner. As a mild application to the hands if rough or inclined to chap, I recommend camphor ointment, or, perhaps better than anything else, the preparation called rose glycerine. After exposure of the hands and before their exposure to cold or the sun, this rose glycerine is invaluable.

Now, here is a little bath  for the hands, for which I am sure you will feel grateful. It is easily prepared, and if the hands are soaked in it for about ten minutes morning and evening in summer, it tends to keep them nice and white and free from roughness. You put a pinch or two of powdered alum and a teaspoonful of powdered sal ammoniac in about a pint and a half of warm salt and water, and dissolve; then, when you have added a little toilet vinegar, this elegant hand bath is ready for use.

The same may be used for clamminess of the hands; but as this latter is generally a symptom of a low state of health, I would also advise the use of light-brown cod liver oil - about a dessert spoonful or more three times a day. "Nasty," did you say? Well, there you have me in a corner. But you soon get over the feeling of loathing which it at first excites, and, oh, dear me! There is really no end to all the good that cod liver oil is capable of doing. By the way, chewing a bit of orange peel before and after taking the little dose helps to disguise the taste of the oil.

Glycerine and water - rain-water, mind, always use rain-water for face and hands, at least - is a good application for damping the hands with. And a mixture of pure lime-juice, or lemon-juice, and lavender-water, equal parts, is another nice preparation for whiting the hands. The hands should never be rubbed with a coarse towel, but with a very fine one, and afterward with a piece of soft flannel. The soap you use should be very mild and transparent. Carbolic soap is, in cases of chapped hands, useful, and so is tar soap, but neither are very elegantly perfumed.

I hope I am not writing for any girl who bites her nails. It is a disfiguring habit, and any of my readers guilty of such a thing should be tried by court-martial by her brothers and sisters, and condemned to wear gloves day and night for a month, for beautiful nails are a very great adornment.

Both feet and hands, if at all tender - or I might almost say whether or not - should be washed every night before lying down, and every morning. If this is done, and sometimes a little alum added to the water, you will have very little trouble with corns or any other painful disfigurement. The feet should be wiped thoroughly dry, and the toes seen to. The nails should never be cut short; they should be a medium length, and, mark this, they should be cut straight across, and not from the sides like the fingernails. They ought to be well cleaned and brushed, but never scraped, and the scarf-skin should be gently pressed back.

There are few things more painful than an in-growing nail. It ought to be seen to at once, or the nail may have to be removed. It is generally caused by wearing too short shoes, which presses the nail back and causes it to thicken and grow downwards instead of forwards.

The feet should never be cramped up in a tight boot, while, on the other hand, a too loose boot or shoe is often the cause of corns. The stocking ought to be very soft, but not too thick, as thick stockings make the feet excessively tender.

When hands or feet are cold, warm them by exercise or friction; but never hold them to the fire, else chilblains may be the painful result.

Everyone knows what a common chilblain is, so I need not take up space by describing it, but content myself by giving a prescription for its cure. It is as follows - Soap liniment, one ounce; tincture of lytta, two drams; laudanum, two drams. Mix and apply three or four times a day.

8 March 1884 - 'A Few Hints on Nursing for Our Girls' by A Hospital Nurse - Part 1

The fact that almost every woman has at some time to act as a sick-nurse is generally acknowledged, but only very little provision is made for training our girls to be intelligent and efficient aids to the doctor, when their turn comes to take the management of a sick room.  I wish on this occasion as a nurse of some experience to address the readers of THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER as young nurses, and to give a few simple hints which may be useful either in attending sick friends, or on meeting with some of those cases of accident to which we are liable every day of our lives; cases in which a little knowledge and presence of mind may avert a great deal of trouble, sometimes may save even life itself.

To begin with, I have a piece of encouragement to give you as inexperienced nurses, if you are suddenly called upon to act.  Remember that loving care, unselfishness, and obedience will make up for a great deal.  If you can get your patient to like your attendance, and not to object to receive your assistance when necessary, you may, by obeying your doctor in every point, carry through a case very creditably without regular training.  Still, study and experience are not to be undervalued; for one thing, even if you have had but a little, it is a comfort to yourself to know that you have at least a fair idea how things ought to be done from having done them before, or having seen others do them.  I know from personal experience that even when the patient and friends are satisfied, and the doctor complimentary, there is yet a keen sense of incompetence, or at least of uncertainty; a feeling that if so-and-so had been done otherwise it would have been better; a haunting fear of something absolutely necessary for the well-being of the patient being left undone.  This is all very foolish.  When we go into hospital for training, we learn that what we have to do is carry out orders; not to originate, or to fancy that things have been forgotten.

However, we must come now to practical matters.  Suppose you have a member of your family laid up at home with a bad knee and the doctor orders a blister, would you know how to apply it?  First be sure you know the exact place where it is to go on.  Some doctors mark it on the patient’s body, and it is a very good plan.  The place should be washed clean, of course, leaving the mark.  When you get the blister-plaster, if there is a little bit of stuff like silver paper over the flies (the brown part), take it off before applying, unless the patient’s skin is exceedingly tender.  Warm the blister slightly, holding the back to the fire.  The doctor will tell you about how long it is to stay on and the signs by which you will know when it is to be taken off.  The ointment for dressing the blister should be spread upon a piece of lint or old linen cut to the right size before the plaster is removed.  Have a pair of sharp scissors ready or, failing them, a needle will do.  Then take the blister off as gently as you can without dragging.  The best way to do this is to take it with both hands and draw it towards the middle from the edges.  Have a piece of cotton-wool or old linen to catch the “serum” as the fluid that runs out is called, and if the blister has risen much it may be well to put a saucer underneath to save the sheets.  In hospitals there are trays for such purposes.  Snip or prick the blister at its lowest part, and the fluid will run out.  If possible, do not let any flow over the healthy skin, as it is apt to scald.  You may help it out with a little gentle pressure.  There will be some dead loose skin.  Opinions differ as to whether it should be cut off at first or not.  It will come away in time.  It is always removed if the blister is to be kept “open”; but the doctor will explain this to you.  By keeping it open I do not mean leaving it uncovered; this is never done.  I mean keeping up the irritation by means of some smarting ointment.

A blister should be dressed at least every morning and evening until the place heals up.  In some parts of the body the dressing will keep its place if laid on, but it is generally well either to bandage it loosely or to fasten it down with two or three strips of strapping or diachylon plaster.  If you use this for any purpose, heat it first by holding the back – the linen side – to the fire, or by putting it round a vessel of hot water.  Otherwise unless the skin is very hot it will not stick.

Sometimes a poultice has to go on when the blister comes off.  In this case if you have to attend to all yourself, you must open the blister first, and cover the place with a piece of lint or old linen, while you make the poultice, which would be quite cold if you made it first, besides, it does not take long to prepare, and ointment is often very tedious to spread.

If you are set to make a poultice and are not in good practice, do not be afraid of having it too hot.  It is much more likely to be too cool with all your pains.  Do not be afraid, either, of having it too big if for a surgical case.  In poulticing the breast cut a hole for the nipple.

First spread out your linen or whatever you are going to spread upon so as not to waste time after the poultice is mixed, then scald out the vessel in which you are going to make it.  Throw away that water and pour in some more, as much as you think will do, from a kettle hissing and boiling furiously, put your meal in by degrees, stirring it in quickly until you have a thick smooth paste with no dry meal at the edges of the bowl.  Always stir in the same direction, not backwards and forwards.  Turn out on your linen and spread it evenly, about a quarter of an inch in thickness; cut the edges straight, leaving a good margin of linen to turn in like a hem.  The linen should be double.  I have often seen poultices spread on lint, but it is great extravagance, for large ones, at any rate.  Tow does very well for the purpose, but is requires some practice to lay it properly, and a badly-made tow poultice is very uncomfortable.  Dipping the knife or spatula into boiling water makes it easier to spread the meal.

When taking off a poultice or any dressing, if it sticks never drag it; moisten it slightly with warm water and it will come away.  If a poultice is likely to remain a good while unchanged, and is over an open sore, a very little oil spread upon it will keep it from sticking.  Some people recommend oil with all linseed poultices.  I do not.  It is hard to put little enough, and it is rather dirty.  A properly made poultice ought not to stick, but in a case where one might not like to disturb a patient during the night I should use oil, as if left on many hours a poultice is apt to get dry.

A mustard poultice is an old-fashioned remedy for cold on the chest.  The approved way to make it was to use cold water, and spread it on brown paper with a little bit of muslin over the front to protect the skin.  This could not be kept on long.  Perhaps ten minutes or a quarter of an hour is as long as one could bear it from the time it is first felt.  Nowadays I generally see linseed meal mixed with the mustard, or mustard leaves are used.  They are very good and clean and easily applied.  When you take off a mustard leaf lay a folded pocket-handkerchief or a piece of old soft linen over the place.

The nicest way of making a bread poultice that I know is to grate up stale bread in a colander, pour a little boiling water upon it, and stir it up with a knife.  It takes much less water than you would think, as it should be a pretty stiff paste, and if sloppy it is no good and will fall to pieces before coming off.  With a little oil spread over it, it is a very soothing application but this does not make a very hot poultice.  If heat is required, and you use bread, first scald out your vessel, put in a little boiling water and then some coarsely crumbled bread, stir it, and leave by the fire or in the oven to soak for five minutes or so.

Most extraordinary mistakes have been made about blisters and poultices, though they seem simple things.  It is not fair, however, to expect people to know what they have never been taught.

Not long ago I left a blister on a patient, and asked his wife, a middle-aged woman, if she knew what to do when the time came to take it off.  She told me that she had never seen a person blistered but once, and then she fainted.  The first blister I put on, many years ago, did not rise.  If it had risen I should certainly not have known how to treat it, though probably some one in the house could have told me.  It is, however, very stupid and very wrong of people nursing the sick not to ask for directions in a case of this kind if they are not quite sure that they know what to do.  In some arts we learn a good deal by one of our own mistakes, but a nurse’s mistakes mean suffering to her patient, and this being the case she ought never to be ashamed to confess ignorance and ask for instructions. 

A clever person not long ago who was too lazy or too proud to ask for directions in a simple matter, set about making a linseed poultice by blending up the meal with cold water – I suppose with a vague idea of making starch.  If it ever reached the spreading stage it must have been a nice sticky mess.  Many years ago a doctor in the North of Ireland, prescribing for one of his out-patients, gave the wife a blister, a bottle of medicine, and some other things that were required, with, as he thought, full directions how to use them.  Calling a few days afterwards to see how the man was getting on, he found that the woman had put all he had given her into a saucepan and boiled it, giving the mess afterwards to the patient as a dose.  The doctor said that the man would most certainly have been poisoned, only that the flies of which the blister was composed made him very sick, and he brought the whole thing up, so that after all no great harm was done.

Fomentations or stupes are often ordered to relieve pain.  There is a particular kind of material called spongio-piline used in hospital for the purpose, but a stupe can be made quite well by wringing out coarse flannel in boiling water.  If not wrung every day, a fomentation is about the most miserably uncomfortable thing that can be imagined, and is almost certain to give the patient cold.  A good way to prepare one is get a strong towel and lay iyt over a wash-hand basin; then lay your flannel in the towel, and pour boiling water upon it until it is well soaked.  By twisting the ends of the towel in opposite directions, you will not scald your hands, and you will be able to wring the flannel dry.  Two people can prepare a fomentation much more easily than one.  To relieve acute pain opium is sprinkled on the flannel before applying, and turpentine is sometimes ordered as a counter-irritant.  If the stupe is to be plain hot water, bring the flannel to the bedside in the towel so as to keep it as hot as possible, shake it up just before applying, and it will keep warm much longer.  Fold a dry towel and lay it over the fomentation when you put it on.  In hospitals a piece of waterproof material is generally used for this purpose.  Sometimes these stupes have to be changed very frequently, but the doctor will tell you this.  If you have many to prepare it will be worthwhile to make a regular “wringer”, by running a stick or lath into a hem at each end of the towel.  By twisting these sticks in opposite directions, you can wring with little or no fatigue.  The wrists soon get tired doing it the other way.

When a doctor asks you any question about yourself or anyone else, be quite sure you understand what he means.  If you do not, tell him so.  I remember once hearing a girl unintentionally quite deceiving a physician about a shivering fit she thought she had had; it was probably just a little chilliness, but she made herself out so very much worse than she really was, that he thought she must have had a severe rigor, as it is called, and sent her to the fever hospital, where, I believe, they rather laughed at her and sent her away in a day or two as having nothing the matter.

Another thing: When you get a prescription made up at a dispensary, be sure you understand how the medicine is to be given.  Doctors have ways of their own of writing directions, meant for the dispenser, not for you.  A girl once brought me a piece of paper that had been given her with a bottle; from having been some time in the hospital as a nurse I could explain it to her, but before I went I could have made nothing of it.  In most of the London hospitals I believe they have printed labels for all the bottles, “Take two tablespoonfuls three times a day” and so on.  It is a good plan and ought to be universally adopted.  If you do not understand the directions, however, and ask the dispenser, he will always tell you when and how the physic is to be taken.

There are a few simple things to be noticed in giving medicines that you may as well understand.  It may perhaps be an unnecessary caution to tell you if you are directed to give, say, a tablespoonful of anything, only to measure it in the spoon and bring it to the patient in a cup or glass.  I have known a spoon put to the sick person’s lips with the dose.  A moment’s thought will convince you that is a most slovenly and uncomfortable proceeding.  Always wash your cup and spoon immediately after giving medicine.  If you have to give castor oil, first rinse your vessel and spoon in cold water; then put your milk, or brandy-and-water, or whatever you are going to give it on, into the glass, measure the oil in a spoon, and pour it as carefully as possible into the middle of the glass, not letting a drop touch the sides.  It is well to pour out castor oil near the patient, as carrying it across a room is apt to shake it up . When it is desirable to make the oil act quickly it should be stirred up in hot water.  This must be a most abominable dose; but, given as I have described, castor oil need not be hard to take at all.  However, some children, and grown people too, are very obstinate, and if this medicine is ordered will point-blank refuse to take it.  For them we had a plan in hospitals of shaking the oil up with about twice the quantity of peppermint-water in a soda-water bottle.  Any bottle, of course, would do, provided it was clean and big enough.  It takes a good deal of shaking until it comes into a sort of creamy stuff.  It seems to me that this would be far nastier than the oil in its usual form; but I am bound to say that I have seen a boy who would roar for half an hour if you suggested castor oil in his hearing, but would take this mixture without the slightest fuss.  A nurse, who has had large experience, told me that she never knew a child object to it.

Sometimes when a pill is ordered for a patient one is rather put aback by the statement that he or she never did and never could swallow such a thing.  I have sometimes been able to persuade one of these incompetent people to try a very simple plan, which I never knew to fail even with a small pill, which is more difficult to swallow than a big one.  Put it back as far as possible on the tongue, and take a drink of water; it is almost sure to go down.  In case of a child, however, or a patient who is determined that he cannot take a pill on any terms, the best way i s to scrape it up and mix it with a little sugar in a teaspoon.  Then, of course, there is no further difficulty. 

21 January 1899 - 'Two of the Greatest Afflictions of Girlhood: Blushing and Nervousness'

Medicus again, in a quite lengthy (even he acknowledges it) article about how to deal with social anxiety.

Some years ago an enterprising physician discovered that the whole human race was insane. This doctrine naturally drew forth from the public considerable indignation. We do not believe that we are insane. But the answer of the author was concise: “You cannot prove that you are sane, therefore you are insane!”

And a large number took his word and believed it. Nay; even now people are to be met who believe that everyone is insane. Nay – further! There are many persons who not only believe everyone to be insane, but believe that all physicians hold the same opinion!

And yet, if you ask one of these philanthropists if he thinks that he himself is insane: “Oh well – no; you see I am an exception. I do not mean to say that I am better than anyone else, but I am different from everybody that I know. No, I do not think that I am insane.”

Yesterday we were interviewing a gentleman “lodger” in an asylum, who had come to the conclusion that all the inmates of the house – nurses, patients, physicians and servants – were all insane, himself alone excepted. This is a common creed in lunatic asylums.

No, everyone is not insane. The doctrine is fallacious. But we all pass through phases in our lives when our minds are not capable of fully grasping every detail of the situation. In other words, we are all liable to nervousness.

What is nervousness? Think for yourself and try to answer the question.  It is difficult, we admit.

Is not nervousness a state in which the mind does not rise to the situation? Is it not a condition of uncertainty? Is it not, as it were, a feeling that you know not what step to take next or what answer to give to a question?  Is it not a conviction that you are out of place?

Indeed, it seems to us that nervousness is the expression of being mentally ill at ease.

Few persons realise what a terrible disease nervousness really is. It is one of the greatest annoyances of youth. It renders many girls utterly miserable when they first “come out”. It is most fearful suffering, and one which brings many girls to a life of misery.

There is but one other condition which troubles girls more than nervousness, and that is excessive blushing and blushing is but a physical expression of nervousness.

It is commonly held that the work of physicians is confined to the body, and that they have no knowledge of the troubles of the mind. It follows from this that the study of the mind has been grossly neglected by medical men, and even the simplest mental aberration will baffle many worthy practitioners simply because they consider that the mind is not their province. We can delay no further and must get on to consider the practical side of our task, the causes and treatment of blushing and nervousness.

We suppose that we must first mention the physical causes of blushing and nervousness. Many would consider these to be of the first importance. They are not. Blushing is a momentary relaxation of the minute blood vessels of the skin of the face, caused by an impression received by the brain. The vessels relax, they become distended with blood, and the face becomes red, hot and swollen. If this phenomenon lasts but a minute it is called a blush; if it lasts for a longer period it is called a flush. The former is usually due to mental causes, the latter invariably to physical conditions.

Blushing is the direct effect of a more or less powerful stimulus passing to the brain from one of the special senses. Flushing is the effect of a stimulus from one of the internal organs, usually the stomach. Anaemia, indigestion, constipation and various other ailments cause flushing, and very rarely they produce blushing. This is all we have to say of the physical causes of blushing and nervousness, except that people who are ill or run down are often irritable and nervous. But the illness is not the cause of the nervousness, it only paves the way for it to become manifest; it only reduces the force by which nervousness is normally overcome.

It is in the workings of the mind that we must seek the causes of nervousness.  We are not all born with the same mental powers. Each inherits from her parents certain hereditary tendencies. We all know that insanity runs in families; so does nervousness; so does every kind of mental inclination, but only to a certain extent. We do not inherit the virtues, the vices, the powers or the mental shortcomings of our parents; we inherit a tendency to them – a tendency which may develop and reproduce in us the minds of our fathers. Or these tendencies may be modified or suppressed by education; or they may be overwhelmed by some individual peculiarity which we have not inherited from our parents, but which had its beginning in our own minds.

The mind of anyone is an individual in itself. It has its own passions and inclinations different from those of any other, but it must be educated. Each of us must have a solid basis of general knowledge ere she can use her mind. In other words we must all be educated. And in education, or rather in the lack of some portions of education, you will find the causes of blushing and nervousness.  Nervousness is more common amongst the highly educated classes than amongst others. And yet you say that nervousness is caused by defective education! How can this be?

You have not got a true notion of education! You say education but you mean study; you confine the term to that part of education which is learnt at school and from books; you have fallen into the common error of the age by supposing that education is synonymous with schooling!

At school we learn to read, to write. We learn a little science, perhaps a smattering of art and the elements of a language or two. Is this all the education required by man? Is this sufficient food for the mind of man for threescore years and ten?  Do you learn nothing else in your life than this little handful of unimportant subjects? No, you do not! Far more than nine-tenths of your education is gained without your knowing how; not without effort, but without your knowing that you are educating yourself.

Our forefathers had no books; they never went to school; they knew but little of art or science, and their technical skill was of the rudest. We call them barbarians, but why? They had their passions as we have them; they had their joys and their sorrows; they had their thoughts; they were educated. The viking of old was a man with a highly wrought mind. Though differing in details his education was the same as ours. It was the study of himself and his companions.

Let us glance a little into these defects of education which cause nervousness.  From what has been said, the reader will perceive that the lack of knowledge of herself or her companion is the commonest cause of nervousness; this indeed is the case. The girl who leaves the nursery for the first time is shy and retiring; she cannot speak to anyone without confusion; she has no experience of life. A new episode has occurred and she cannot at once rise to the situation. She is not at home; she is nervous. And so if you think over the position in which you have been nervous, you will see that in the majority of cases your trouble was due to inexperience.

The girl who has never spoken to anyone except her own friends is nervous when she first speaks to a stranger. After she has been introduced to one or two persons her nervousness vanishes, for she has become used to her new situation. Who has not felt nervous when she first appeared in public? Who has not felt most unpleasant sensations when she first sang or played before an audience? Yet after her second or third appearance all traces of nervousness vanish, because now she is accustomed to her surroundings.

The warrior who will face death on the field without compunction may fly in terror if he hear the buzz of a moth. Or if he is unused to feminine society he will be completely cowered by a single woman. The scientist who has astonished the world with his inventions is yet too nervous to deliver a lecture to a half-dozen students, for he is used to his laboratory but is a stranger to the lecturer’s chair. These are examples of what may be called healthy nervousness. They are transient and can be overcome by the will. We will now talk of some more complicated causes of nervousness.

There are many girls (and we are sorry to say there are a great many of them) who between the ages of fifteen and twenty do nothing but loll on a sofa and read cheap novelettes and other wretched and unwholesome literature. These persons usually blush like beetroots when spoken to. They are always nervous and usually silly and rude. Self-consciousness is one of the greatest and most important causes of nervousness. The fear of “giving oneself away” is a very potent factor in the causation of nervousness. Some people confuse self-consciousness with self-conceit. But they are diametrically opposite conditions. The self-conceited girl believes herself perfect. She cannot make a mistake. What she says must be right. She has no fear of committing herself. Why should she ever be nervous? And she never is nervous. The self-conscious girl is the reverse. Not only does she know her shortcomings, but she takes an exceedingly gloomy view of everything. Truly she is always thinking about herself, but her thoughts are not flattering. She puts herself in the worst light and imagines that everyone else sees her in the same way. She imagines everyone is laughing at her. She is confused. She is nervous.

Not all girls are nervous or blush from the same cause, nor are they nervous in the same way nor in the same situations. Some girls blush only when in the company of strangers, others even when speaking to their greatest friends. Some blush or are nervous only when talking to persons of the opposite sex, others when talking to anybody.

We can divide the various kinds of nervous girls into the following groups.

1. Girls who blush or are nervous when talking to strangers, but are not nervous among their friends.
2. Girls who are nervous when talking to friends or strangers.
3. Girls who are more nervous with their friends than with strangers.
4. Girls who are not only nervous when talking to one person, but who are quite at home in a crowded room.
5. Girls who are nervous in a crowded place even when they are talking to nobody, or when they neither know nor are known to anybody.
6. Girls who are only nervous when talking to persons of the opposite sex.
7. Girls who are nervous at all times and everywhere.
8. Girls who are only nervous when they are run down in health.
9. There are many other kinds of nervousness, but we cannot enter into the discussion of them here.

To everyone who glances down this table it will be apparent that the same explanation will not accord for all these conditions. Such diametrically opposite states as that of Nos.4 and 5 cannot be due to the same cause. We must therefore briefly describe the various mental states on which each form of nervousness depends.

The first case, girls who blush or are nervous when talking to strangers but are perfectly at home when talking with their friends, is one of the commonest of the eight types of nervousness. This is the purely natural result of inexperience. The very many girls who are exceedingly annoyed to find that they cannot be introduced to anybody without blushing or stammering or vainly trying to break a distressing silence, may be comforted by the assurance that ere many months are passed they will have become more accustomed to the very strange conditions imposed upon us by social usage and to abruptly starting a conversation with a person whom they have never seen before.

To some girls it may be a relief to know that young men are very much more bashful, more inclined to blush, and find much greater difficulty in starting a conversation to the first person to whom they are introduced than girls do. The news will certainly be well received by all girls suffering from this form of nervousness that a very short space of time will see the end of their annoyance.

The sixth division of nervousness, that condition in which girls are only nervous when talking to persons of the opposite sex, is only a mild form of the first and, like it, it is a very transitory state.

The second class of nervous girls is that in which the members of nervous when talking to friends as well as to strangers. This is the most numerous class of all. This form of nervousness is sometimes due to indigestion or other derangements of health. It is to this class that we shall more especially refer when considering the treatment of nervousness.

That form of nervousness in which the sufferer is perfectly at ease in the excitement of a crowded room but who cannot endure to talk with one person alone is a comparatively rare condition. It is typically met with in cases of nervous exhaustion. It is tolerably common in persons who have just recovered from some forms of depressing diseases.

The fifth class contains two very distinct groups of cases. There are many people who are distressed in a crowded place. Many persons who are not feeling up to the mark are often depressed and get a headache in a crowded place, even where there is no noise or conversation going on. This is a form of nervousness that is almost exclusively met with in elderly or middle-aged persons.

it is in the second of the groups of people who are nervous in large assemblings that we see the most advanced grades of self-consciousness. We have seen girls in drawing rooms, at concerts, and even in church, suffering from this malady (for though it appears as vanity or self-conceit, it is neither one nor other, but a true disease). They shift about, looking from one person to another, wondering what the various members of the assembly are thinking about them. If anyone happens to turn his glance in the direction of a girl with this form of nervousness, a regular outburst occurs; she blushes and perspires profusely, putting her hand up to her hat or fringe or rearranging some part of her dress, wondering what can be amiss, or she wipes her nose with her handkerchief, thinking that there must be a smut there to cause the unknowing agitator to turn round and look at her. It will never strike her that the unwelcome gaze of the stranger is purely accidental, or may be excited by the elegance of her dress or person. No, there must be something “funny” for anybody to turn round and stare at her like that!

The two last divisions of nervousness need but little comment. They are due to bodily ill-health and are part and parcel of physical weakness.

We must now turn to the most important and most difficult part of our task – the description of the means by which these various forms of nervousness may be overcome. We have several times mentioned that many forms of nervousness are commonly caused by ill-health and we may now state that all forms are rendered worse by any departure from physical health. It is therefore obvious that if the sufferer is anaemic or has indigestion, or any of the other ten thousand diseases to which we poor humans are subject, it is essential that the unhealthy state of her body should be cured ere she should try the special methods of treatment to cure herself of nervousness.

As nervousness is so frequently the result of a one-sided education and lack of experience, we would expect that persons who have secured a varied tuition would be less subject to nervousness than their less widely but perhaps more deeply educated sisters. And this we find to be the case. It is a knowledge of a wide scope of learning, of the little ins and outs of our very elaborate social customs, of a more or less superficial knowledge of current views and events, which will help a girl be at home in society rather than a deep knowledge of any one subject. This is the proper place to point out that the popular idea that nervousness is due to a feeble intelligence is totally untrue. It requires a considerable amount of mental power to be able to be nervous. Some of the greatest men in history have been conspicuously nervous.

The girl who rapidly falls in with social customs, who can join in conversations on the ordinary subjects of talk, and who can grasp and retain the little ways of society which she cannot fail to observe, need never fear of retaining any temporary nervousness she may have experienced when she first “came out”. Since experience is so antagonistic to nervousness, it follows that the pursuit of experience is a very necessary point in the treatment of nervousness. Of all ways of acquiring experience none can equal travelling; for the experience gained by moving from place to place is exceedingly varied, and it is this varied experience that is needed to cure nervousness. Often when nervousness is so intractable that it cannot be cured by other means, we advise the subjects to leave society for a year or two, to travel, if possible, or else to gain an insight into the ways and working of the world before again attempting to face the terrors of social life.

In many parts of this article we have maintained that self-consciousness was an exceedingly common and important factor of nervousness and blushing. If we could remove self-consciousness we could cure most, if not all, forms of nervousness. Suppose that a girl is self-conscious and she enters into conversation with another girl who is not self-conscious. The question is broached by the healthy-minded girl. She asks –

“Do you think that Mr Jones’ French poodle would look better if he were shaved?”

The nervous girl will undergo severe agitation as to what she ought to answer. “You see, if I say ‘no’ it may show that I do not know anything about dogs. In fact I must be very careful not to give myself away as an ignoramus”.

As a matter of fact neither of these girls knows much about dogs, perhaps neither would recognise a French poodle if she saw one. The questioner, still waiting for the simple reply which her question needs, looks into the face of her nervous companion and at once the latter’s wits desert her altogether. “Why did she look into my face? I must be looking very ugly today? I know my dress is old-fashioned but it is very rude of her to notice it!” etc., etc. This poor girl cannot bring her mind to bear on the subject of the conversation; she is eternally thinking of herself. If she would only think about what her questioner is talking of, instead of thinking about what her companion is thinking about her, she would no longer be self-conscious, no longer nervous.

The conversation concerning the French poodle has upset her altogether; she leaves her first companion and seeks another. But here she can boast no greater success. Perhaps she will brave a third effort at conversation, but it is all to no purpose; she is either too fearful of committing herself or saying something unseemly, or else she knows that her companion is secretly laughing at her. Utterly downhearted she eventually sits down in a corner and remains silently agitated for the rest of the evening.

What a terrible state is that of self-consciousness, and yet how common! And yet of the large number of persons who suffer from it how many try to overcome it? Because it is far easier to foster than to subdue these feelings is no reason for not making any attempt to quell them.

A very important piece of advice to give to all nervous girls is to avoid all trivial conversations, especially talking scandal. It is unfortunately a fact that nervous girls are often quite themselves when discussing the weaknesses of their friends and neighbours, but such conversation begets a distrust of their friends, and we have no doubt that the habit of talking against one’s neighbours is sometimes a direct cause of that form of nervousness in which girls cannot talk to their own friends without blushing. They know what their friends say about others behind their backs, and they fear that they too will be discussed in their absence. To such girls as these we may say, give over such worthless friends and try to know others who use their tongues to a more proper purpose, and never under any circumstances talk scandal yourselves.

Self-conscious girls must get out of the habit of revolving in their minds what answer to give a simple question. When you are talking socially, it is really of very little consequence whether your answer is correct or not. You should indulge in conversation with everybody whom you wish to know, and with whom your parents o guardians wish you to be intimate. You must not sit in a corner and mope because you thought that Miss Smith was criticising your dress when you were trying to converse with her. Be a woman and bravely attempt to join in conversation. It does not matter if you make mistakes. We are all human. We all make mistakes. But it would indeed be a funny world if we never attempted to open our mouths lest we should say what is indiscreet or fallacious. Remember that when you have once braved your inclination to sit down and be silent, half the battle is over, and you will soon grow to look with astonishment at your foolish behaviour of some weeks back. Since experience is the great cure for nervousness, gain all experience you can both by reading, by the study of the arts and sciences and by observation of the doings of others and the workings of this great world. Keep your eyes open and look around you. However limited your own circles may be, it still contains more to be studied than you can learn in your lifetime. Trivial literature, and especially cheap novelettes, should be avoided, for they give you a false notion of life and deal with silly and impossible predicaments.

There are doubtless many people who think that nervousness can be cured by diet, exercise and drugs. To such as hold this view we readily admit that when nervousness is caused by bodily ill-health or by lack of precautions to the laws of well-being, such is the case. But the true nervousness, seen so commonly in perfectly healthy persons, who rigorously follow all the laws laid down by physicians and general experience, is totally uninfluenced by physical treatment of any kind.

Blushing, which is one of the forms of nervousness, most frequently due to physical causes, is often to be cured by careful diet and other therapeutical measures. There is one drug which is often of use in this condition. Icthiol taken in 2 ½ grain doses will often help to cure blushing due to physical causes. No drug whatsoever is of use in “nervousness”.

We have now finished our account of nervousness. If it has been somewhat lengthy, it is nevertheless extremely brief when the gravity and complexity of the subject is considered. We have not described all forms of nervousness, nor do we expect to cure all persons suffering from those varieties that we have described. But we hope and trust that those who suffer from these most distressing ailments will derive some benefit from our task.

19 June 1880 'Bright Eye and Teeth Like Pearl' by Medicus

"Do not read in bed; it is a slothful habit to say the very least of it." It's been too long since I transcribed a Medicus column. Today, as the title suggests, is about eye care and oral hygiene. Once you've used your mouthwash made from rosewater and potassium permanganate, be sure to brush with charcoal.

Bright eyes and pearly teeth. That is the dose your doctor brings you this week, and he does not think you'll require any coaxing or bribing with sugar-plums to make you take it either.

Bright eyes. Yes, I'll take the eyes first, because I don't think there is a single girl who reads these lines who does not wish to have beautiful eyes, and to know how to keep them so. I have little to say about the actual colour of the iris. This may be as dark and deep as caves of ocean, or blue as the forget-me-not, and each colour and every colour will find admirers, but even the iris may lack lustre when late hours have been kept or over indulgence in sweets and dainties has brought on a fit of indigestion. Over-tiredness and worry, too, makes the iris look less brilliant in this way; the pupil, that is the black point in the centre, becomes smaller, is contracted, and this gives to the eye what some might be rude enough to call a fishy appearance. Before going to a party, some ladies I happen to know apply some mixture to the eyelid; it is easily washed off, and gives an extra brightness to the eye for the time being by enlarging the pupil. Before you go to a party, do nothing of the kind. I only mention the practice to put you on your guard against it. Good health and spirits will make your eyes sparkle more brightly than all the belladonna in the world. To say nothing of the danger to the eyesight, the languid, dreamy far-off look that the use of this drug at first gives to the eye is soon changed into one which I can only describe as decidedly lackadaisical and lack-lustrous. There are few blessings we possess equal to good eyesight, and we ought to take care of it in the days of youth.

The white of the eye, on the other hand, is very much affected by the state of the health and state of the stomach. If a girl really wants to look her best and brightest on any particular day she must take care to take plenty of exercise for some days beforehand, and take care what she eats and drinks as well. The slightest tinge of yellow in the white of the eye  makes a great difference, and detracts from the beauty of the whole face. This, however, can nearly always be avoided by keeping the general health up to the mark, early rising, fresh air, temperance in diet, peace of mind, and avoidance of late hours, and overindulgence in pastry or sweets.

Now, independent of the fact that a clear, healthy-looking eye is nearly always an indication of good sight, and that we can keep the eye healthy by keeping the body so, you must never forget that your eyesight is intended to be a blessing to you throughout life, and much may be done in youth to make it so.

"He that is stricken blind can ne'er forget / The previous treasure of his eyesight lost."

But there is a minor kind of blindness, if I may call it so, which young people can do much to avoid. I refer to defective vision and to weak eyes. The first is what is generally called short-sightedness. IN some cases a book printed in ordinary type cannot be read unless held close to the eyes. Now, although this state of the eyesight cannot be cured, it may be prevented, and when present it may usually be kept from getting worse, and on the other hand, if the ailment increases year by year there is a great chance of the sight being lost entirely.

In order then to preserve the sight, nothing that puts a strain upon it or tries it too much should be undertaken, or, if undertaken, should not be continued too long. Young folks should not read too small type, or do too fine drawing work, or very fine needlework; even the pens and ink they use should be of the best, and the desks at which they write ought to be high to prevent unnecessary stooping. The book that is read should be held up high and boldly at a reasonable distance from the face, and there should be no bending of the neck. The work done should not be continuous; frequent rest is imperative. All work and no play is very bad for Jack, and it isn't good for Jill.

Never read or sew in the dusk, and never read or sew in a powerful sunlight, or by the fierce glare of a lamp. Reading in railway carriages is also bad for the eyesight.

Glasses should not be worn without real necessity, and if they are they should not be strong ones.

I may add, as regards reading, that it is better to sit up while so engaged, and to throw down the book or magazine as soon as the eyes feel weak or the brain gets tired.

Again, do not read in bed; it is a slothful habit, to say the very least of it. There is a kind of weakness of the eyes that many girls complain of. Their eyes feel painful and hot, and tears come into them on the least excitement, or even when talking or laughing. This is a state of matters that cannot be removed by local treatment alone; it demands constitutional treatment as well, because it points to a feeble condition of the nerves and system generally.

Tonics should be had recourse to, the citrate of iron and quinine mixture should be taken with an occasional (about once a week) pill of aloes and myrrh. The chemist will give the dose according to the age. after taking the citrate of iron and quinine for a fortnight, small doses of the phosphate of iron, or almost any mild preparation of iron, may be taken for some time longer.

Cod liver oil should also be used along with the iron, and good, easily digested, nourishing diet, with plenty of eggs and cream, and exercise in the open air. The only local application likely to be of much service is cold water, bathing eyes and forehead three or four times a day. A weak solution of green tea makes a harmless and useful eye-wash, so does five drops of the tincture of arnica to one ounce of water.

A stye is a very common, and for the time being, very painful affliction of the eyelid. Hot fomentations and a bread poultice will make the matter point, when it may be let out with a fine pointed needle. At the same time a little rhubarb and magnesia should be taken to cool the blood. If styles are of frequent occurrence much good is done by a course of quinine and cod liver oil.

A good eye lotion for weak eyes may be made by dissolving a grain and a half of sulphate of zinc in an ounce of pure water, and adding fifteen drops of the wine of opium. Use it three or four times a day. Nothing is more beautiful in a young girl than long sweeping eyelashes.

Just one word about what are called preservers – those unsightly-looking, non-magnifying, blue spectacles that some people wear. They may be of use in places like Malta, where the sun glares and the red earth stares, and where only lizard can live in comfort at noon-tide, but I question whether yellow glasses of the colour photographers make use of as panes for their dark rooms would not be better and more natural. This hint may be taken for what it is worth.

And now for a word on the teeth. As you are well aware, these were not given to us merely to be ornamental, but to be useful as well. Mastication is the very first act in the process of digestion, and in order to prevent that most unpleasant ailment, indigestion, from which even young people at times suffer, our food must be thoroughly and not too quickly masticated in order to be properly triturated and mixed with the juices from the glands in the mouth. Eating quickly is not only not graceful, but it does positive harm, for it gives the stomach far more to do than it would otherwise have, and thus the liver is irritated and beauty often spoiled.

Many an early wrinkle might be traced to a restless night occasional by a slight attack of indigestion brought on probably by hurry to eating.

Well, if nature has furnished you with good teeth, it is your duty to make the best of them, for if the permanent teeth once fall out remember they will never come again.

The toothbrushes you use should not be too hard. I should recommend a medium hardness. The teeth ought to be cleansed every morning before breakfast – not merely the outside, but the inside as well – and after every meal. If this be done, the mouth will always be wholesome and clean. If toothpicks are necessary, let them be made of quill, and not of metal. Care of the teeth prevents them from decaying, and prevents the breath from being offensive. Use soft water instead of hard in brushing the teeth. If this be not readily procurable a little carbonate of soda should be added to the hard. Charcoal tooth powder is good, although not pretty; it is likewise safe, and that is more than ca be said of a good many of the tooth powders and pastes sold in the shops, which often contain substances that soon wear off the enamel or beautiful pearly covering of the teeth.  

A very good and efficient tooth powder may be made by mixing two teaspoonfuls each of powdered orris root and camphor with four of precipitated chalk.

Powders that contain acids are likewise unsafe, as they destroy the enamel. Pure bicarbonate of soda alone is often useful as a tooth powder.

A teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh and the same quantity of the tincture of bark in two ounces of rose water is useful as a wash when the gums are soft, spongy, and liable to bleed. The permanganate of potash mouth-wash is made of rose water, with a few grains of this salt in it, just enough to make it a pretty red colour. This is also a capital wash to sweeten the breath and prevent toothache. It stains the teeth a little, so the brush and a little charcoal should be used after it. If you should want a tooth powder to strengthen the gums, ask for one containing chalk, myrrh and borax.

Toothache can usually be prevented by the use of such powders and washes, as I have now given you, and by keeping the health well up to par. Most girls need a tonic now and then, and there is nothing better than tincture of iron, generally called steel drops – done, ten drops three times a day in a little cold water for a fortnight or three weeks. A saline aperients of sufficient strength, say, a good dose of Epsom salts, has often a wonderful effect in stopping inflammatory toothache. When this troublesome complaint comes on periodically, quinine should be taken in full doses in the intervals. Do not have the teeth pulled out unless they be very far decayed. If you do you will miss them sadly when you get older.

It is preferable to have them stopped. If you conclude to do this be sure to go to the very best dentist you know of. It will be the cheapest in the long run, for is it an operation which should be most carefully performed.