Dry cupping.—­Take a piece of wire, wrap a small piece of cotton about the end, dip this in alcohol, light it and swab the inside of the glass, remove and apply the glass.  The heat causes the air to expand and it is driven off and the partial vacuum formed is filled by the skin and tissues over which the glass is placed.  The edges of the cup must not be warm enough to burn the patient.  Six or seven cups may be applied at one time and allowed to remain five minutes, after which they are removed by pressing the flesh around the edge and inserting the finger there so as to let in the air.

Linseed meal poultices can be applied afterwards to keep up the work begun.

Wet cupping.—­Scrub the skin with hot water and soap, wash off with a five per cent (1-20) carbolic acid solution.  Make a few cuts over the parts desired with a clean knife and apply the cup prepared in the way above directed.  Remove the blood and check the bleeding, if necessary, by sponging.  Place a pad on the part and hold this in place by a bandage or adhesive strap.

Blistered Skin.  To dress.—­Puncture the lower part with a clean instrument and catch the fluid on absorbent cotton.  Dress it with oxide of zinc ointment or vaselin on lint or clean linen and strap on.  It is best not to remove the skin from a blister at the first dressing.

[636 Mothers’ remedies]

HOW TO DETERMINE THE DOSE FOR CHILDREN.

We have endeavored to always give the dose throughout this book as we recognized the lack of accurate and detailed information regarding the administering of medicines as one of the weak features in practically all home medical books.  If we have overlooked a few instances we wish to provide for such omissions by giving the table of doses generally used by nurses as a basis for determining the dose of any medicine she may be using for a particular age.

Rule usually followed.—­For children under twelve years of age.  Make a fraction.  Use the age of the child for the upper number, numerator.  The number below the line, denominator, is twelve, added to the age of the child.  For example:  If your child is two years old you would begin by placing two as numerator, thus 2/, then you add 2 + 12 = 14 and place 14 below the line and you have 2/14 or 1/7.  You then take 1/7 of the adult dose for your two-year-old child.  If the dose for an adult is 21 drops, a child of two years is given 3 drops, etc.

DOSE IN DROPS FOR DIFFERENT AGES.

If the dose is a spoonful or 60 drops for an adult, the other doses would be correct for the ages given below: