In more severe burns, where blisters are formed, the blisters should be punctured with a sharp, sterilized needle and allowed to discharge their watery contents before the above remedies are applied.

In burns severe enough to destroy the skin, disinfection of the open wound with weak carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide is very necessary.  After this has been done, a soft cloth soaked in a solution of linseed oil and limewater should be applied and the whole bandaged.  In such a case, it is important not to use cotton batting, since this sticks to the rough surface and causes pain when removed.

45.  Carbon Dioxide. A Product of Burning. When any fuel, such as coal, gas, oil, or wood, burns, it sends forth gases into the surrounding atmosphere.  These gases, like air, are invisible, and were unknown to us for a long time.  The chief gas formed by a burning substance is called carbon dioxide (CO_2) because it is composed of one part of carbon and two parts of oxygen.  This gas has the distinction of being the most widely distributed gaseous compound of the entire world; it is found in the ocean depths and on the mountain heights, in brilliantly lighted rooms, and most abundantly in manufacturing towns where factory chimneys constantly pour forth hot gases and smoke.

Wood and coal, and in fact all animal and vegetable matter, contain carbon, and when these substances burn or decay, the carbon in them unites with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide.

The food which we eat is either animal or vegetable, and it is made ready for bodily use by a slow process of burning within the body; carbon dioxide accompanies this bodily burning of food just as it accompanies the fires with which we are more familiar.  The carbon dioxide thus produced within the body escapes into the atmosphere with the breath.

We see that the source of carbon dioxide is practically inexhaustible, coming as it does from every stove, furnace, and candle, and further with every breath of a living organism.

46.  Danger of Carbon Dioxide.  When carbon dioxide occurs in large quantities, it is dangerous to health, because it interferes with normal breathing, lessening the escape of waste matter through the breath and preventing the access to the lungs of the oxygen necessary for life.  Carbon dioxide is not poisonous, but it cuts off the supply of oxygen, just as water cuts it off from a drowning man.

Since every man, woman, and child constantly breathes forth carbon dioxide, the danger in overcrowded rooms is great, and proper ventilation is of vital importance.

47.  Ventilation.  In estimating the quantity of air necessary to keep a room well aired, we must take into account the number of lights (electric lights do not count) to be used, and the number of people to occupy the room.  The average house should provide at the minimum 600 cubic feet of space for each person, and in addition, arrangements for allowing at least 300 cubic feet of fresh air per person to enter every hour.