BURNS AND SCALDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 562, 26 April 1913, Page 2

BURNS AND SCALDS.

Everyone has been taught from childhood that the first thing to do in the treatment of a burn is to exclude the air. Any oil or oleaginous preparation at hand may be applied, and, in the absence of such, powder substance may be used. Soda or flour may be found in every household, and either one of these may be applied freely. One of the best emergency applications, because of the promptness with which it is usually obtained, is none other than molasses. There need be no fear of infection from it, for its action is rather that of an antiseptic. An application which has been employed for hundreds of years is caron oil, made by mixing equal parts of lime water and linseed oil. This preparation, when at hand, is a serviceable application. If the skin is broken, do not apply absorbent cotton to the burned surface, as the fibres.become entangled in the injured tissues. Blisters may be carefully pricked, that the water may escape and the skin still left as a protecting agent for the raw parta beneath. Ordinarily, salves and ointments are not of any great value in the treatment of burns.

LOTIONS OP DRY DRESSINGS usually give the better results. Where there is a broken surface, antiseptic precautions must be observed, lest the wound become infected. Solutions of carbolic acid and peroxide of hydrogen are useful in keeping the parts in a sterile, healthy state. Water that has not been thoroughly boiled is likely to infect s burn.

If a, large jaart of the body, as one-fourth or one-third of the surface, be burned, there is a Severe shock to the vital powers, so great that death may ensue. In case of severe burns, systematic remedies, like morphine and alcohol, are needed to offset the shock to the nervous system. In the smaller skin burns, which the housewife experiences so frequently, the pain is relieved by applying baking sada which has been moistened with strong ammonia. A good remedy for burns in general, and one which many physicians use in a routine way, is made by disiolving picric acid in alcohol. The druggist or dispensing physician will prepare such a remedy for you, and it will be surprising how many times during the year you will have occasion to use it.