scrotum. Vicarious. In place of another; a function performed Vomiting. Emptying the stomach upward. Water-brash. A profuse flow of saliva. Womb. An organ situated between the bladder and Zoon, Zoa.__ Animal. Animals. SICK ROOM. In preparing a meal for anyone whose appetite is delicate, it should be made to look as tempting as possible. The tray should be covered with the whitest napkin, and the silver, glass, and china should shine with cleanliness. There should not be too great a Sympathetic nerves. The nervous system of the auto-variety of viands, and but a very small portion matic functions. Symptom. A sign of disease. Syncope. Fainting. Tampon. A plug made of lint or cotton. Tapping. Drawing off fluids in cavities by puncturing the surface. Tenesmus. Violent contractions. Testes. The male organs contained in the scrotum. Tetanus. Permanent contraction of muscles. palate. Toxic. Poisonous. of each one. Nothing more quickly disgusts a feeble appetite than a quantity of food presented at one time. The patient should never be consulted beforehand as to what he will eat or what he will drink. If he asks for anything, give it to him, with the doctor's permission; otherwise prepare something he is known to like, and offer it without previous comment. One of the chief offices of a good nurse is to think for her patient. His slightest want should be anticipated and gratified before he has had time to express it. Quick observation will enable her to detect the first symptom of worry or excitement, and to remove the cause. An invalid should never be teased with the exertion of making a decision. Whether the room is sound from the too hot or too cold; whether chicken broth, or beef tea, or gruel is best for his luncheon, and all similar matters, are questions which should Trachea. That part of the windpipe between the larynx Tubercle. Concretions of degenerated matter. Tympanum. The drum of the ear. Ulcer, ulceration. A chronic sore situated in the soft be decided without appealing to him. parts. A diseased action resulting in ulcer. Umbilicus. The navel. Uræmic. Pertaining to urine. Ureters. The canals, two in number, carrying the Uvula. A fleshy organ hanging from the center of the Vaccine. Pertaining to smallpox. Household troubles should be kept as far as possible from the sick room. Squabbles of children or servants should never find an echo there. In the event of some calamity occurring, for which it is absolutely necessary the sufferer should be informed, the ill news should be broken as gently as possible, and every soothing device employed to help him to bear the shock. Above all, an invalid, or even a person apparently convalescent, should be saved from his friends. One garrulous acquaintance ad Vagina. The canal, five or six inches in length, lead- mitted for half an hour will undo the good ing to the uterus or womb. Varicose. Pertaining to a dilated vein. Vascular. Full of blood-vessels. done by a week of tender nursing. Whoever is the responsible person should know how Vaso-motor. Affecting vessels by reflex nervous much her patient can bear; she should keep action. Vein. A blood-vessel which, with one exception, carries the blue or venous blood. Ventricle. A chamber in the heart. Vertigo. Dizziness. Vesicle. A bladder-like sac. Vesicular. Full of little vessels. a careful watch on visitors of whose discretion she is uncertain, and the moment she preceives it to be necessary, politely but firmly dismiss them. She must carry out implicitly the doctor's directions, particularly those regarding medicine and diet. Strict obedience to his orders, a faithful, diligent, painstaking following of his instructions, will insure to the sufferer the best results from his skill, and bring order, method, and regularity into domestic nursing. Temperature.-Excessive heat, long continued, is detrimental to health. It causes in man, enlargement of the liver, jaundice, indigestion, diarrhoea, dysentery, dropsy, etc., and hastens the fatal termination of a majority of human maladies. In geese it causes the enlarged liver, employed in making the celebrated pate de foie gras. Excessive cold, long continued, is less prejudicial than excessive heat, except to the old and feeble. Exposure of a limited portion of the body to cold disturbs the equilibrium of both the nervous and vascular systems, causing local congestions, or colds." "If the wind strikes you through a hole, -Old Proverb. Do not stand long upon the cold ground on a warm spring day. It is equally dangerous to sit upon anything cold on a warm day. Keep the head cool and the feet warm. Sudden changes of extreme temperature are not necessarily injurious. If the heat or the cold is applied only for a few minutes, as in certain baths, etc., it often proves invigorating. The most perfect examples of physical and mental development are not usually found in regions having the most uniform temperature, but in those which have a considerable range of temperature. Exercise in the cold air contracts and strengthens the muscles and toughens the sinews. In general, the best temperature for health is that in which one cannot be comfortable for any length of time without exercise. With most persons this is a temperature of from 58° to 63° Fahrenheit. Radiated heat is better than heated columns of air. The sun, and an open fireplace or grate furnish radiated heat. Hot air furnaces, with registers opening directly into the rooms, supply only heated columns of air; which are generally dry and impure. Rooms thus warmed are first and most heated near the ceiling. Air heated by red hot, or very hot iron, is rendered in a great measure unfit for respiration. Light.-Light is essential to the perfect life of most vegetables and of most animals. To render a plant brittle and watery, the gardener excludes from it completely the rays of the sun. Etiolation has the same effect upon man and other animals. Without light, man becomes scrofulous. rickety, goitrous, consumptive, and dies in a state of premature decrepitude. Children reared without light and air are in the animal kingdom what good celery is in the vegetable kingdom, white and succulent; but they wilt under the slightest touch of frost, and are broken under the slightest pressure. Children should not be sent into parks with their faces veiled. Patients on the sunny side of a hospital ward recover the soonest. Light gives a bronzed, or "tan" color to the skin; but where it uproots the lily, it plants the rose. Light is one of the most valuable disinfectants. Air and light, are among the best medicines known to man. |