IN WHICH we explore a fascinating little guidebook for all aspiring Swell Coves, from 1840. It’s titled “Hints to Men-About-Town,” and was written by an anonymous knight of the goosefeather who identifies himself only as “The Old Medical Student.”
It's a series of three, starting with this episode. In it, we'll learn how to gracefully recover from the visible effects of getting involved in a drunken riot, or a street brawl, or maybe an unsuccessful attempt to box a charley — or whatever other unfortunate chain of events is likely to ensue when a high-spirited young man-about-town cries, “Hold my blue ruin and watch this!”
Not all of this is good medical advice, I'm sorry to say. There have been a few updates to the basic book of physic in the 185 years since this little guidebook was written.
Here's an outline of the contents ...
- 00:00: Overview, and some info about early-Victorian medicine
- 09:00: How to fix black eyes WITHOUT electric sparks
- 21:00: How to fix black eyes WITH electric sparks and/or magnets
- 24:45: How to fix bloody noses
- 25:30: How to fix sprained limbs
- 28:45: How to re-seat a dislocated thumb after you have punched a fellow roisterer really hard without knowing what you're doing (this apparently happened a lot).
NEXT TUESDAY in Part 2 we'll learn some late-Regency Best Practices on keeping up the appearance of being a heavy drinker without ending up with a horrible hangover... and
THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY, Part 3 is crammed with 185-year-old tips on how to navigate the many social and emotional (as well as, er, medical) issues that can challenge a fast young rake due to — hmm, how do I put this delicately? —excessive enjoyment of the company of very friendly ladies.
Join us!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
The tip top Tuesday evening to all you Flash kiddies and
Corinthian cronies of the Penny Dreadful Chafing crib.
I am your host Finn JD John, known to all the beaks and
Charlies and lambskin coves around the session house, says
Professor Flash, welcoming you to another special midweek bonus
(00:35):
episode, What I'm now calling the Hapeni Horrids, basically a
half length mini sode. In this episode I'm starting
into reading a fascinating little guidebook for all
aspiring swell coves. It's titled Hints to Men About
Town and was written by an anonymous Knight of the Goose
Feather who identifies himself only as the old medical student.
(00:58):
So I guess he's also a knight ofthe The Lancet, the Bleeding
Cup, the Reflex Hammer. Anyway, he's clearly a Knight of
the Something, and it was published by George Davis and
company out of Liverpool in 1840.
I'm going to get 3 hate me horrid specials out of this
little book in three roughly equal bites, starting tonight
with the prologue in first chapter.
(01:20):
Well, he calls it the first and 2nd chapters, but the first
chapter is a prologue. This first chapter deals with
how to gracefully recover from the visible effects of getting
involved in a drunken riot or a street brawl, or maybe an
unsuccessful attempt to box a Charlie.
You know, some similar manifestation of high spirits
that a man about town is so apartment to get into after 1/4
(01:42):
or three of the bluest and deadliest old Tom has to offer.
You know, hold my blue ruin and watch this.
That sort of thing. I'd say hold my daffy and watch
this, as the Regency Roysters probably would, but I'm afraid
that that would sound like a different sort of invitation in
the modern context, so I won't do that.
Next week we'll get into the 2ndchapter, the topic of which is,
(02:05):
well, I'll quote Mr. Medical Student on that.
Hints on the mode of preventing intoxication, ancient and
modern, on the treatment of drunkenness in excess, and the
best mode of obviating the shocking next morning.
The following week we'll have the 3rd and final chapter, which
is a little bit more spicy, and I may have to actually put an
explicit tag on this one. It's a chapter of advice about
(02:29):
what a young man about town should do when he has met one of
the lovely young Cyprian maidenswho frequent the night spots,
and having taken her home, has awakened the following morning
to find that she has left him a somewhat unmaidenly little
medical issue as a souvenir to remember her by.
And that will be the last chapter, the last in this series
(02:50):
of Hate Me Horrid specials, although by no means the last
Hate Me Horrid on this channel. But you mustn't rush me.
I need to trespass a little moreon your time to explain some
things about this little book and some things about its
author. The history of medicine in the
pre germ theory era is one of the most fascinating things
about the Regency and early Victorian maybe the most I have
(03:12):
thoughts that I simply must share.
In Graduate School back in 2009 or so, I took a class from
Doctor James Moore of the University of Oregon on the
history of medicine. Doctor Moore is the author of
Doctors and the Law, Medical Jurisprudence in 19th Century
America, and Licensed to practice The Supreme Court
defines the American Medical profession, among others.
(03:35):
I blame him for my unseemly and fanboyish interest in 1800s
medicine. So you can blame him for setting
me in motion with the following rant.
Although you can't blame him if you find any errors in it, those
are mine. Don't blame him for those, if
there are any, which I hope there are not, and I'd like to
hear from you if there are. That said, I have no reason to
(03:56):
doubt that our pseudonymous author was in fact a medical
student. Nobody in 1840 would admit to
being a medical student unless he actually was one.
Well, almost nobody. Based on what I see in this
book, I think our author is mostlikely a practicing physician
and not a mere student, but not a mainstream physician.
I think he probably studied in an eclectic school or possibly a
(04:19):
homeopathic 1, which I find interesting is a theory, and it
certainly explains why our author was so keen to stay
anonymous. Mainstream medicine at this time
was not entirely respectable, and I ought to explain why.
First off, let me give you a definition of the term I'm going
to be using to refer to mainstream medicine prior to the
development of the germ theory allopathy.
(04:41):
You don't call any doctor an allopath today, at least not to
their face, any more than you call a lawyer a shyster.
It's a pejorative, like a milderversion of quacksalver.
But in 1810, when the term was coined by the founder of the
homeopathic style of medical practice, the shoe actually kind
of fit. Allopath Benjamin Rush, who
signed the Declaration of Independence, had such a
(05:04):
terrible record of death among his unfortunate patients in the
Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, which reached
nearly 50%, which is considerably worse than the
average untreated yellow fever victim, that his reputation
never really recovered. George Washington in 1799 may
not have been killed by the allopaths attending him, but
(05:26):
they did bleed 5 pints of blood from him.
That is about half of his natural complement.
They also gave him copious doses, or in the lingo of the
day, heroic doses of savage purgatives, and it seems pretty
likely he died from the resulting shock rather than the
virus he was suffering from, which was likely the flu or
maybe just a bad cold. That was the era of quote, UN
(05:48):
quote, heroic medicine, in whicha school of physicians figured
that since what they were doing wasn't really working, maybe
doing more of it would. The era of heroic medicine was
pretty much over by 1840. But yeah, allopaths also brought
a degree of arrogance and self-confidence to the table
that bother the general public agood deal.
(06:08):
This was particularly the case with people who had lost loved
ones under an allopath's care. So allopaths were always feeling
a little hard pressed and havingto keep up a bold front.
Their one real saving grace was the fact that a career as an
allopathic medical doctor was considered suitable for a
gentleman of family. But it was pretty much the
lowest form of professional credential compatible with the
(06:31):
status of gentlemen. That would change a great deal
later, of course, especially after the development of the
germ theory, after which the physicians formerly known as
allopaths became really good at curing people.
But in 1840, they were kind of the bottom rung of the gentleman
ladder, which means most of themwere very eager to keep upstarts
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from clambering on with them. In the 1830s, upstarts meant
those who studied other styles of medicine like eclectic and
hydropathic and homeopathic and osteopathic.
These practitioners tended to belower caste men who aspired to
the status of gentlemen and studied medicine as a means to
attain that status or something close to it.
(07:12):
So assuming our author is one ofthese fellows, it does make
sense. It also makes sense why he would
keep mum about the details of his credentials and call himself
a student rather than a master because mainstream doctors were
quite jealous of their privileges.
I should mention also that untilthe early 1800s, allopathic
physicians were not surgeons or apothecaries.
(07:33):
They were university trained gentleman who studied what was
called physic and were called upon to address disease and
sometimes to direct surgeons andapothecaries the way modern
doctors do with specialized nurses.
So, for instance, an allopath might bring in a surgeon when he
needed someone bled, or to handle things like broken limbs
and sprains and amputations. Surgeons.
(07:55):
Originally they were Barber surgeons, and later just plain
surgeons. Surgeons were trained
technicians who learned through apprenticeships how to fix
broken or sprained or otherwise compromised bits of the human
bod, or, of course, to remove them with a saw.
It wasn't until around the time of this little book that
(08:16):
mainstream medical school started teaching that practical
stuff. I will have lots more to say
about 1840s medicine and next Tuesday's Hate Me Horrid
episode, but I'm going to leave it at that for now since this
one is kind of long already. But early Victorian era medicine
that is pre germ theory allopathic medicine is
absolutely fascinating. There's lots more to get into
(08:37):
about it, but enough palaver, let's hear it now from the
horse's mouth. Hints to men about town by the
old medical student Part 1 Liverpool, George Davis and
company, 1840 Dedicated to the Lord's Waterford and Waldegrave.
(09:02):
This little work is most respectfully inscribed without
permission by their Lordship's very obedient humble servant,
the old medical student. CHAPTER 1.
Introductory Sum Quote Eris phuiQuote Ace.
Which means, I am what thou wiltbe.
I have been what thou art. Before proceeding to that which
(09:26):
may be considered the proper objects of this little book, it
will perhaps be well to throw out a few hints for the benefit
of my country readers, of whom Ifeel convinced I shall have some
thousands, that they may be unable to know what is meant by
a man about town. Did I not do so, our respected
and dearly beloved, but unsophisticated country cousins
(09:46):
might confound the man about town with the man upon town.
Two different animals, though resembling each other a good
deal in their habits, indeed in many things appearing so much
alike that it would not be a matter of any very great
difficulty for the most enlightened of our verdant
friends to confound one with theother.
I shall therefore now proceed togive a few hints marking the
(10:08):
distinguishing characteristics of the man about town and the
man upon town. Hint one.
The man about town keeps late hours, enjoys his wine or punch,
and perhaps a spree after it goes to his club or looks in it
to hell. So does the man upon town.
But he winds in much greater moderation, and at the Heller
club he is the Rook or Greek, The man about town, the pigeon
(10:32):
too often destined to be pluckedat the one by the Sote le coupe,
at the other by the loaded dice or false roulette ball.
Hint, too, The man about town very frequently has a share of
me. So has the man upon town.
But with this difference, the man about town keeps his Fair
Lady. The Fair Lady of the man upon
town not infrequently keeps him on the wages of her prostitution
(10:56):
obtained from our very enlightened, but unsuspecting
and gullible man about town. Hint 3.
The man about town is often an unsuspecting, good-natured,
honorable, high spirited fellow,one who considers himself up to
everything and yet is continually victimized.
The man upon town is one who lives by his wits, honestly if
(11:18):
he can, but not over particular as to the means of obtaining A
livelihood. Men upon town are of all grades,
from the titled swindler visiting in Mayfair to the
lowest vendor of Chelsea buns who tosses for a penny.
However different the sphere of operations, they all alike prey
upon the public. There are also various grades of
rank in men about town. This title embraces all the gay
(11:41):
world, from the Lord who drives his own 4 bits of blood down to
the humble commoner who six daysin the week drives a hard
bargain in the city, and on the 7th a layman spavined crippled
to clap him, or more likely still to horsal down.
And what myriad of grades there are between these two, the alpha
and Omega of the man about town.There are the sporting baronets,
(12:03):
MPs and half pays, then the clerks and public offices, the
students of law, of painting, ofphysic, and, shall I say, of
divinity, when they take a run up from Oxford to Cambridge for
a week's life Again. We have 1000 other classes in
this great city, some members ofeach considering themselves men
about town on the strength of a knowing Taglioni, or a flash
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down the road, or a rough pea jacket, or a clean pair of boots
and primrose gloves to cover their knot over white hands.
These are all men about town, and their propensities are
gentlemanly, though their means be limited, very limited.
Yet are they all choice, boon companions, fellows fond of
wine, of women and good company.And would, had they the means,
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vie with my Lord, in the largessof their expenditures, in the
number of the knockers and bell pulls in their museums, and in
the quantity of bottles they could crack at a sitting?
They would, in short, out hairedHerod in these follies had they
The Dirty dross needful for a life of spirit.
Of course, when a class embracesso many various species, there
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will be great diversity of manners as well as of haunts.
The highest class take their wine at their clubs or an hotel,
while the intermediate and most numerous grades content
themselves with punch or stout at the rainbow.
The Albion are similar places. The highest, however, frequently
condescend for lack of excitement in their own
territories to descend to the haunts of the middle classes.
(13:30):
These haunts are very numerous, and I shall take leave to notice
some few of them. They, the middle class of Ruiz,
are elives of the Grand Hotel, the Coal Hole, the Rainbow, the
Cider Cellars, the Cock, the Albion, the Finish, and other
similar places, as the show folks say, too tedious to
mention. But be these haunts, high or
(13:52):
low, the habits and mischances of men about town are in a great
measure the same. Wine and women are to all these
individual members things to be desired and dreaded, the first
bringing in its train headache and sickness, the second, not
very infrequently something infinitely worse.
Now and then a heartache is the consequence.
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Besides these misfortunes, a manabout town is liable to get into
rows, and in the course of the flare up he may give or receive,
Ah, there's the rub, a black eye, or be ornamented with a
swollen frontispiece, neither ofwhich are pleasant monuments of
the last night's frolic. It will be my endeavour in the
following brief pages, to conveysuch hints to my brethren, as I
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have found by somewhat extensiveexperience.
Are the best for removing the tumid, eye or nose, the headache
of the next morning after a jolly evening, and for
preventing the evils that generally arise from an intimate
to proximity to the painted cypriens of the salons, and to
their sisters who decorate the pavet of the quadrant.
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Did I not fear to make this introduction too long, I would
now appeal individually to all classes of men about town.
But why should I do so, when I feel convinced that they won?
And all will be glad to find that one so well acquainted with
the subject. Excuse the vanity has at length
determined to save them from much present misery and future
suffering, and they may depend that if they strictly pursue the
(15:20):
advice contained in the following hints, they will have
reason to bless the day that made them acquainted with the
old medical student. Now, although I am very sanguine
of success, I bear in mind stillthat no man ever did or ever
will make a correct calculation when self is one of the units.
He is sure, by adding a cipher to it, to multiply by 10 in
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every shape or way, and thus throw the whole computation
wrong. If, then, my success is not so
great as my hopes, my disappointment will be rendered
less when I reflect that all menare liable to the same fallacy.
Before I conclude this exhortium, I may be permitted to
say that although now and then Imay speak with a tone of levity,
yet nothing but a conscientious wish to serve my fellow
(16:04):
creatures, and a desire to root out, if possible, the greatest
scourge to the human race, wouldhave induced me to give this
work to the world. And I have preferred sometimes a
good-natured word to 1 of reproof, knowing too well that
anything in the shape of a sermon on the subject of human
frailty would be thrown aside astwaddle by that class of persons
(16:24):
for whom I write. If my book fulfills the ends I
have just stated, which are all I have in view in writing it, it
will much contribute to my happiness.
Chapter 2 hints on the best methods of treating slight
accidents that are of frequent occurrence to men about town, as
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black eyes, strains, etcetera, etcetera.
He who plays at bowls must expect rubbers.
Proverb. What strange adventure do you
now pursue? Perhaps my succor or advisement.
Meet Mustang. You much, Spencer.
Tybalt. Gentleman.
Good deer. A word with one of you,
Mercutio, and but one word with one of us.
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Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow.
Tybalt, you shall find me apartment.
Enough at that, Sir, if you giveme occasion.
Romeo and Juliet. There are no class of persons
more liable to what may be called minor accidents than men
about town. Such accidents as may and do
occur in the gymnasium, the fencing school, or in a
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breathing with the gloves, or albeit in a flare up with the
police. It is such accidents only that
it is my intention to hint at the severer classes I am sure my
readers would be too wise to take into their own hands, and
would without delay hasten to the surgeon.
My hints will therefore be confined to the best modes of
treating bruises, blows, sprains, or strains, bleeding
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from the nose, and dislocations of the thumb, which frequently
occurs when giving a forcible blow.
One of the most disfiguring and most common accidents is that
known by the vulgar as a black eye and by the fair.
It has always, no matter its origin, designated disgraceful,
and some even term it the true livery of blaggardism.
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If such is the case, it must be very desirable to get rid of
this distinguishing feature. I shall not pause to describe
all of the possible ways of acquiring it, but shall
endeavour briefly to describe its appearance, though doubtless
that is tolerably familiar to mygood friends and readers.
One of the best excuses I have heard for having in one's
possession a black eye, was thatmade by 1/2 witted and not very
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obstemious lady who said she fell going upstairs in the dark
and struck her eye against her toe, not being able to see it.
Will my reader adopt this very original and probable excuse?
Reve no Anomuton the appearance of an incipient black eye are,
when first received, redness andswelling.
The next hour, or perhaps day, it is blue and livid.
(18:58):
That then becomes fully black, and when subsiding, purple,
blue, slate colored, green and yellow.
In short, the number of its tints and hues emulates the
rainbow, which it does not quitevie with in beauty.
Without proper management, it takes a week or a fortnight to
remove all appearance of this accident, which, while it lasts
and stares, to use an Irishism, its unfortunate owner, and
(19:21):
everyone else in the face. It gives to all who see it the
idea that its possessor has beenkeeping company with a grade of
persons whose rank does not exceed that of a Hackney
coachman, or an omnibus cat, or a professional bully.
But I trust, dear reader, that if such a mischance as a blow on
the eye may befall thee, by attending to my hints, you will
avoid its blackening altogether,or have it easily removed.
(19:44):
Hint 1. As soon as the blow is received
on the eye or other part of the face, and the skin is not
broken, bathe it well in hot vinegar or spirit, but as soon
as the following lotion can be procured, apply it by means of
lint, which is to be kept continually wet with it.
Take of hydrochlorate of ammonia, 2 drams rectified
spirit, 2 oz Rose water 4 oz. Mix for a lotion to be
(20:07):
continually applied to the part hint 2.
When going to bed, if you can procure it, apply the scraped
root of the flower called Solomon's seal, placed between
two pieces of muslin. This root is generally kept by
druggists in a fresh state. If you cannot procure this,
apply a pledge it of linen wet with the lotion, and over the
pledge it a piece of oiled silk,to prevent evaporation in the
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morning. If the blow has not been very
violent, there will be but very little appearance of it
remaining. Hint Three.
If you are so circumstanced thatyou cannot procure the lotion or
Solomon's seal, try raw beef or scraped potatoes.
Frequently changed. Hint 4.
If the blow has been so heavy asto cause immediate closure of
the eye, two or three incisions may be made through the skin to
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let out the blood and the bleeding, encouraged by warm
water. Afterwards the lotion is to be
applied as already recommended. Hint 5.
If the knuckles of the striker have cut the skin, do not be in
a hurry to apply sticking plaster, but encourage the
bleeding. Hint 6.
If in the morning you have a moderate black eye, which you
must be rid of, have a few electric sparks passed through
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the part. To illustrate the benefit to be
derived from this hint, I will relate part of a lecture I heard
some 10 years ago, delivered by Mr. Granville Sharp Pattison,
then Professor of Anatomy at theLondon University, and I fancy
with tolerable correctness, as Itook notes of it at the time.
The learned Professor stated that one of the secretaries of
(21:35):
the legation dining out, became tell it not in gath slightly
inabriated, and in walking home by some very unaccountable means
got into a row in the street or elsewhere, and received a blow
which he took no notice of, but in the morning, when consulting
his mirror on the propriety of shaving, found himself the
unhappy holder of a pretty considerable black eye.
(21:57):
I'm quoting the learned professor here.
To add to the chagrin of the case, he was bidden that evening
to attend a formal dinner given by our minister to the Embassy,
of which he was attache, and from which he could not
consistently with his duty, absent himself.
Nor could he very well attend such a dinner of free and
enlightened citizens with his face checkered like a draft
(22:18):
board. He consulted various artists,
that is said on the practicability of painting out
the black, but did not meet withmuch success, and in great
distress of mind, said ProfessorP.
He came to me to know if surgical art could avail him
what was to be done. I ordered lotions, embrocations,
and fomentations, which were oneafter the other, diligently
(22:39):
applied, but without removing the damned spot.
Time wore away, and it was now 5:00 when the dinner took place.
At 8:00 a thought struck me thatelectricity might be of service,
and I took him to an electrician, and put him upon a
stool with glass legs, and had sparks passed through the part.
In half an hour or so the livid colour of the lid was removed,
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and he attended the ministerial dinner without a flaw in his
countenance or character, and not a little ungrateful to his
surgeon. Before having recourse to
electricity, of course, the inflammation should be reduced
as much as possible by the meansalready alluded to, and I beg my
readers to recollect that sparks, not shocks, are
required. I have little doubt that
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magnetism, not animal, would have as good an effect as
electricity, if applied by meansof a large magnet of the
horseshoe form. This hint I throw out for the
consideration of Doctor Turnbullparticularly.
That sometimes happens, as I already said, that the blow is
so heavy that the eye is swelledup in a moment.
I have already given one hint onthe best treatment and will now
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take leave to offer a few more in consideration from my patient
reader. Hint one.
If the swelling, as I already said, takes place immediately
from the violence of the blow, the best advice I can offer is
that you should lie in bed and foment the part with a decoction
of poppy heads and chamomile flowers, and at night apply a
poultice. Probably by these means the eye
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will be open next morning, but it will be bloodshot and
inflamed, and these cannot be speedily removed.
Hint to reduce your diet, avoid wine, spirits and Porter, and
purge yourself well with Epsom salts or sidelets powders.
The When the swelling begins to go down, the lotion already
prescribed may be applied. Hint 3.
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When blackness only remains, youmay remove it by electricity, or
the following embrocation may prove of great service.
Take of compound of liniment of Cam. 414 drams.
Tincture of kantharides 2 Drams.Mix a piece of lint wet with
this embrocation to be applied frequently.
But confinement to the house or the use of a green shade when
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you go out is almost always required when the blow has been
a severe one, to hide the consequences from the public.
Hints on bloody noses. If the blow has been only
slight, the bleeding will be of service and should be allowed to
continue for a short time. But if the bleeding is violent,
or if there's much tuma faction of the gnomon of the face,
attend to the following hints. Hint One.
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Restrain the bleeding by bathingthe face, especially the feature
itself and forehead, with cold water, and let the sufferer
sniff up a little vinegar and water.
Hint 2. Away the swelling by
fomentations. Afterward use the lotion already
prescribed for black eyes. Hint three.
If the knuckles of the opponent have removed the skin, don't be
(25:27):
in a hurry to dress the part, but when obliged to go out, do
so with flesh colored gold beaters skin.
It not infrequently happens thatfrom a slip of the foot in a set
to with the gloves, foils, or other exercise, a sprain or
strain is given to the knee, wrist or ankle.
This, if neglected, will cause much swelling of the part, and
great pain, requiring leeches, etcetera, to reduce it.
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But if as soon as it is received, the following hints
are attended to, much of such inconvenience will be obviated.
Hint 1. As soon as a strain is received,
place the part in cold water, orapply cold water to it.
Hint 2. But as soon as any of the
following remedies can be got ready, discontinue the water and
apply one of them. They are hot vinegar, hot
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spirit, or hot leaves of port wine.
Let this fomentation be applied very diligently throughout the
day. Hint 3.
Before going to bed, apply a poultice made of equal parts of
oatmeal or bran, with flintseed meal and boiling vinegar.
Very generally there will be no swelling remaining in the
morning, but if there is, continue the fomentation and
poultice at night. Hint four.
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Let the part have perfect rest. If the wrist is sprained, put it
in a sling if the knee or ankle rested on the sofa until all
pain has subsided. To attempt to use a limb, if
badly sprained, is madness, and may cause you to be confined to
the house as long as would a broken bone.
Hint 5. When the swelling has in a great
measure subsided, the cure will be expedited by use of one of
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the following embrocations. The first is to be chosen if the
pain is great. When it is not, the second or
third will probably be the best adopted to the case.
Number one. Take of opium.
Liniment, 10 drams, Strong liquor of ammonia, 2 drams, and
this is to be well rubbed on thePart 3 or 4 times a day #2 Take
(27:16):
of Cam, 4. Liniment, 1 oz.
Tincture of Litta, half an ouncemix, to be used three or four
times a day. Or #3 Take of olive oil, 10
drams, Rectified oil of turpentine, half an ounce.
Solution of carbonate of ammonia2.
Drams Mix to be used as above directed.
Hint 6. When these lineaments have been
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made use of for some time, and nothing but weakness is left,
pumping water on the part two orthree times a day helps
materially to restore the strength of the limb.
As for a great length of time itis probable that more or less
weakness will remain in the part, more especially if the
sprain has been a bad one, it will be proper to surround the
joint with a strengthening plaster and a bandage.
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After a severe sprain much caution must be used, or the
inflammation may return and be very troublesome.
Therefore the limb must be used as little as possible.
If the arm, keep it in a sling. If the leg and you must walk,
use a crutch or stick. My readers may think I am laying
too great a stress on such an accident, but I can assure them
that many sprains require as much care, and will confine them
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as long to their sofa, as would a fracture or dislocation if
neglected in the first instance.It is common to hear, Oh, it is
only a sprain, But, but what is a sprain?
Why, a stretching, or even a laceration of the ligaments
which bind the bones together, and which form the hinge of the
joint. And besides, from the peculiar
anatomical structure of the parts about a joint, they are
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highly prone to acute, subacute,and destructive inflammations,
which often render persons cripples for life.
Therefore I say, beware of neglecting a sprain in giving a
forcible blow. It sometimes happens that the
thumb is dislocated, and becauseit is a small part of the body
it is often treated with contempt.
But dislocations of the thumb require considerable dexterity
(29:05):
to reduce them, and if allowed to remain some hours without
attention, they become extremelydifficult of reduction.
If, then, such an accident befall one of my readers, let
him apply to a surgeon at once, or if very late in the evening,
and he can trust a friend, his friend may reduce it for him by
attending to my hints on the subject.
But first, all of the symptoms indicating the displacement are
(29:26):
to be considered. Let me then hint that the thumb
may be dislocated at the first or second joint, or at that
nearest the wrist. If that nearest the wrist, the
head of the bone will be felt and seen to form a swelling
where none was before. This swelling will move
backwards and forwards when the thumb is moved by a bystander.
The sufferer himself cannot movethat thumb without he uses his
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other hand to do it, and it gives him great pain to attempt
it. Now attend to the following
hints. Hint One.
This dislocation must be reduceddirectly.
If left till morning, the swelling will be so great that a
surgeon would experience much difficulty in ascertaining the
nature of the injury, if he could at all.
Hint, too. If, then, a surgeon cannot be
(30:08):
got that night, proceed thus. Let one person grasp the injured
hand firmly and hold it steady, whilst the other pulls the thumb
toward himself. The principal operator at the
same time presses with his thumbs toward the head of the
bone, forcing it toward the palm, and this puts it in its
place. When this is done the tumor will
have disappeared. Hint 3.
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The bone is very liable to slip out again if great care is not
taken. The thumb should therefore be
bandaged to the hand, and the arm put in a sling.
A surgeon will apply the proper splints and bandages if it
require any. In the morning.
Apply to 1. Early hint 4.
The inflammation must be kept down by the application of a
spirit lotion, which may be thusmade.
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Take a whiskey or other spirit. 2 Wine glassfuls.
Water. 6 wine glassfuls. Mix the bandage to be kept
constantly wet and cold with this lotion.
The dislocation of the other joints of the thumb are known by
the projection of the bone at the joint, and the unusual
manner in which the thumb is bent.
To reduce these dislocations. Listen to hint one.
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Pass a piece of wet wash leatheraround the thumb and immediately
below the injured part. This is to prevent injury to the
skin. Hint two Over this leather pass
a piece of tape about two yards long and secure it by a clove
hitch. This is for purpose of making
extension. Hint three.
Let the hand be secured in the same way as before pointed out,
and then let the operator wrap apart of the tape around his
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hand, and make a very gradual but forcible extension.
At the same time he with his left hand, endeavors to carry
the bone into its socket. These dislocations sometimes are
very difficult of reduction, anda surgeon should always be
applied to if practicable. Hint four.
Place a bandage around the jointand the arm in the sling,
because these dislocations are very apartment to recur.
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Hint 5. Prepare the lotion as before
pointed out. Hint 6.
As soon as all swelling is gone down, have a plaster placed
around the joint to strengthen it.
The more serious accidents whichbefall those who walk oh nights
it would be out of place here tospeak of.
I am convinced my friends about town would have too much noose
about them to become their own doctors, and have, as everyone
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has in such circumstances, a fool for his patient.
Well Manabs, that is all I've got for tonight.
Have a fantastic rest of your Tuesday and I will be back in
your ears once again if you choose to give me such an honor
this coming Saturday evening forour next regular episode of the
(32:40):
Penny Dreadful Story Hour. Now go fill up the rest of this
week with good stuff. Bye now.
The tip top Tuesday evening to all you Flash kiddies and
Corinthian cronies of the Penny Dreadful Chafing crib.
I am your host Finn JD John, known to all the beaks and
Charlies and lambskin coves around the session house, says
Professor Flash, welcoming you to another special midweek bonus
(00:35):
episode, What I'm now calling the Hapeni Horrids, basically a
half length mini sode. In this episode I'm starting
into reading a fascinating little guidebook for all
aspiring swell coves. It's titled Hints to Men About
Town and was written by an anonymous Knight of the Goose
Feather who identifies himself only as the old medical student.
(00:58):
So I guess he's also a knight ofthe The Lancet, the Bleeding
Cup, the Reflex Hammer. Anyway, he's clearly a Knight of
the Something, and it was published by George Davis and
company out of Liverpool in 1840.
I'm going to get 3 hate me horrid specials out of this
little book in three roughly equal bites, starting tonight
with the prologue in first chapter.
(01:20):
Well, he calls it the first and 2nd chapters, but the first
chapter is a prologue. This first chapter deals with
how to gracefully recover from the visible effects of getting
involved in a drunken riot or a street brawl, or maybe an
unsuccessful attempt to box a Charlie.
You know, some similar manifestation of high spirits
that a man about town is so apartment to get into after 1/4
(01:42):
or three of the bluest and deadliest old Tom has to offer.
You know, hold my blue ruin and watch this.
That sort of thing. I'd say hold my daffy and watch
this, as the Regency Roysters probably would, but I'm afraid
that that would sound like a different sort of invitation in
the modern context, so I won't do that.
Next week we'll get into the 2ndchapter, the topic of which is,
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well, I'll quote Mr. Medical Student on that.
Hints on the mode of preventing intoxication, ancient and
modern, on the treatment of drunkenness in excess, and the
best mode of obviating the shocking next morning.
The following week we'll have the 3rd and final chapter, which
is a little bit more spicy, and I may have to actually put an
explicit tag on this one. It's a chapter of advice about
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what a young man about town should do when he has met one of
the lovely young Cyprian maidenswho frequent the night spots,
and having taken her home, has awakened the following morning
to find that she has left him a somewhat unmaidenly little
medical issue as a souvenir to remember her by.
And that will be the last chapter, the last in this series
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of Hate Me Horrid specials, although by no means the last
Hate Me Horrid on this channel. But you mustn't rush me.
I need to trespass a little moreon your time to explain some
things about this little book and some things about its
author. The history of medicine in the
pre germ theory era is one of the most fascinating things
about the Regency and early Victorian maybe the most I have
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thoughts that I simply must share.
In Graduate School back in 2009 or so, I took a class from
Doctor James Moore of the University of Oregon on the
history of medicine. Doctor Moore is the author of
Doctors and the Law, Medical Jurisprudence in 19th Century
America, and Licensed to practice The Supreme Court
defines the American Medical profession, among others.
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I blame him for my unseemly and fanboyish interest in 1800s
medicine. So you can blame him for setting
me in motion with the following rant.
Although you can't blame him if you find any errors in it, those
are mine. Don't blame him for those, if
there are any, which I hope there are not, and I'd like to
hear from you if there are. That said, I have no reason to
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doubt that our pseudonymous author was in fact a medical
student. Nobody in 1840 would admit to
being a medical student unless he actually was one.
Well, almost nobody. Based on what I see in this
book, I think our author is mostlikely a practicing physician
and not a mere student, but not a mainstream physician.
I think he probably studied in an eclectic school or possibly a
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homeopathic 1, which I find interesting is a theory, and it
certainly explains why our author was so keen to stay
anonymous. Mainstream medicine at this time
was not entirely respectable, and I ought to explain why.
First off, let me give you a definition of the term I'm going
to be using to refer to mainstream medicine prior to the
development of the germ theory allopathy.
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You don't call any doctor an allopath today, at least not to
their face, any more than you call a lawyer a shyster.
It's a pejorative, like a milderversion of quacksalver.
But in 1810, when the term was coined by the founder of the
homeopathic style of medical practice, the shoe actually kind
of fit. Allopath Benjamin Rush, who
signed the Declaration of Independence, had such a
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terrible record of death among his unfortunate patients in the
Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, which reached
nearly 50%, which is considerably worse than the
average untreated yellow fever victim, that his reputation
never really recovered. George Washington in 1799 may
not have been killed by the allopaths attending him, but
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they did bleed 5 pints of blood from him.
That is about half of his natural complement.
They also gave him copious doses, or in the lingo of the
day, heroic doses of savage purgatives, and it seems pretty
likely he died from the resulting shock rather than the
virus he was suffering from, which was likely the flu or
maybe just a bad cold. That was the era of quote, UN
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quote, heroic medicine, in whicha school of physicians figured
that since what they were doing wasn't really working, maybe
doing more of it would. The era of heroic medicine was
pretty much over by 1840. But yeah, allopaths also brought
a degree of arrogance and self-confidence to the table
that bother the general public agood deal.
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This was particularly the case with people who had lost loved
ones under an allopath's care. So allopaths were always feeling
a little hard pressed and havingto keep up a bold front.
Their one real saving grace was the fact that a career as an
allopathic medical doctor was considered suitable for a
gentleman of family. But it was pretty much the
lowest form of professional credential compatible with the
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status of gentlemen. That would change a great deal
later, of course, especially after the development of the
germ theory, after which the physicians formerly known as
allopaths became really good at curing people.
But in 1840, they were kind of the bottom rung of the gentleman
ladder, which means most of themwere very eager to keep upstarts
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from clambering on with them. In the 1830s, upstarts meant
those who studied other styles of medicine like eclectic and
hydropathic and homeopathic and osteopathic.
These practitioners tended to belower caste men who aspired to
the status of gentlemen and studied medicine as a means to
attain that status or something close to it.
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So assuming our author is one ofthese fellows, it does make
sense. It also makes sense why he would
keep mum about the details of his credentials and call himself
a student rather than a master because mainstream doctors were
quite jealous of their privileges.
I should mention also that untilthe early 1800s, allopathic
physicians were not surgeons or apothecaries.
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They were university trained gentleman who studied what was
called physic and were called upon to address disease and
sometimes to direct surgeons andapothecaries the way modern
doctors do with specialized nurses.
So, for instance, an allopath might bring in a surgeon when he
needed someone bled, or to handle things like broken limbs
and sprains and amputations. Surgeons.
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Originally they were Barber surgeons, and later just plain
surgeons. Surgeons were trained
technicians who learned through apprenticeships how to fix
broken or sprained or otherwise compromised bits of the human
bod, or, of course, to remove them with a saw.
It wasn't until around the time of this little book that
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mainstream medical school started teaching that practical
stuff. I will have lots more to say
about 1840s medicine and next Tuesday's Hate Me Horrid
episode, but I'm going to leave it at that for now since this
one is kind of long already. But early Victorian era medicine
that is pre germ theory allopathic medicine is
absolutely fascinating. There's lots more to get into
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about it, but enough palaver, let's hear it now from the
horse's mouth. Hints to men about town by the
old medical student Part 1 Liverpool, George Davis and
company, 1840 Dedicated to the Lord's Waterford and Waldegrave.
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This little work is most respectfully inscribed without
permission by their Lordship's very obedient humble servant,
the old medical student. CHAPTER 1.
Introductory Sum Quote Eris phuiQuote Ace.
Which means, I am what thou wiltbe.
I have been what thou art. Before proceeding to that which
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may be considered the proper objects of this little book, it
will perhaps be well to throw out a few hints for the benefit
of my country readers, of whom Ifeel convinced I shall have some
thousands, that they may be unable to know what is meant by
a man about town. Did I not do so, our respected
and dearly beloved, but unsophisticated country cousins
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might confound the man about town with the man upon town.
Two different animals, though resembling each other a good
deal in their habits, indeed in many things appearing so much
alike that it would not be a matter of any very great
difficulty for the most enlightened of our verdant
friends to confound one with theother.
I shall therefore now proceed togive a few hints marking the
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distinguishing characteristics of the man about town and the
man upon town. Hint one.
The man about town keeps late hours, enjoys his wine or punch,
and perhaps a spree after it goes to his club or looks in it
to hell. So does the man upon town.
But he winds in much greater moderation, and at the Heller
club he is the Rook or Greek, The man about town, the pigeon
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too often destined to be pluckedat the one by the Sote le coupe,
at the other by the loaded dice or false roulette ball.
Hint, too, The man about town very frequently has a share of
me. So has the man upon town.
But with this difference, the man about town keeps his Fair
Lady. The Fair Lady of the man upon
town not infrequently keeps him on the wages of her prostitution
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obtained from our very enlightened, but unsuspecting
and gullible man about town. Hint 3.
The man about town is often an unsuspecting, good-natured,
honorable, high spirited fellow,one who considers himself up to
everything and yet is continually victimized.
The man upon town is one who lives by his wits, honestly if
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he can, but not over particular as to the means of obtaining A
livelihood. Men upon town are of all grades,
from the titled swindler visiting in Mayfair to the
lowest vendor of Chelsea buns who tosses for a penny.
However different the sphere of operations, they all alike prey
upon the public. There are also various grades of
rank in men about town. This title embraces all the gay
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world, from the Lord who drives his own 4 bits of blood down to
the humble commoner who six daysin the week drives a hard
bargain in the city, and on the 7th a layman spavined crippled
to clap him, or more likely still to horsal down.
And what myriad of grades there are between these two, the alpha
and Omega of the man about town.There are the sporting baronets,
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MPs and half pays, then the clerks and public offices, the
students of law, of painting, ofphysic, and, shall I say, of
divinity, when they take a run up from Oxford to Cambridge for
a week's life Again. We have 1000 other classes in
this great city, some members ofeach considering themselves men
about town on the strength of a knowing Taglioni, or a flash
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down the road, or a rough pea jacket, or a clean pair of boots
and primrose gloves to cover their knot over white hands.
These are all men about town, and their propensities are
gentlemanly, though their means be limited, very limited.
Yet are they all choice, boon companions, fellows fond of
wine, of women and good company.And would, had they the means,
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vie with my Lord, in the largessof their expenditures, in the
number of the knockers and bell pulls in their museums, and in
the quantity of bottles they could crack at a sitting?
They would, in short, out hairedHerod in these follies had they
The Dirty dross needful for a life of spirit.
Of course, when a class embracesso many various species, there
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will be great diversity of manners as well as of haunts.
The highest class take their wine at their clubs or an hotel,
while the intermediate and most numerous grades content
themselves with punch or stout at the rainbow.
The Albion are similar places. The highest, however, frequently
condescend for lack of excitement in their own
territories to descend to the haunts of the middle classes.
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These haunts are very numerous, and I shall take leave to notice
some few of them. They, the middle class of Ruiz,
are elives of the Grand Hotel, the Coal Hole, the Rainbow, the
Cider Cellars, the Cock, the Albion, the Finish, and other
similar places, as the show folks say, too tedious to
mention. But be these haunts, high or
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low, the habits and mischances of men about town are in a great
measure the same. Wine and women are to all these
individual members things to be desired and dreaded, the first
bringing in its train headache and sickness, the second, not
very infrequently something infinitely worse.
Now and then a heartache is the consequence.
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Besides these misfortunes, a manabout town is liable to get into
rows, and in the course of the flare up he may give or receive,
Ah, there's the rub, a black eye, or be ornamented with a
swollen frontispiece, neither ofwhich are pleasant monuments of
the last night's frolic. It will be my endeavour in the
following brief pages, to conveysuch hints to my brethren, as I
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have found by somewhat extensiveexperience.
Are the best for removing the tumid, eye or nose, the headache
of the next morning after a jolly evening, and for
preventing the evils that generally arise from an intimate
to proximity to the painted cypriens of the salons, and to
their sisters who decorate the pavet of the quadrant.
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Did I not fear to make this introduction too long, I would
now appeal individually to all classes of men about town.
But why should I do so, when I feel convinced that they won?
And all will be glad to find that one so well acquainted with
the subject. Excuse the vanity has at length
determined to save them from much present misery and future
suffering, and they may depend that if they strictly pursue the
(15:20):
advice contained in the following hints, they will have
reason to bless the day that made them acquainted with the
old medical student. Now, although I am very sanguine
of success, I bear in mind stillthat no man ever did or ever
will make a correct calculation when self is one of the units.
He is sure, by adding a cipher to it, to multiply by 10 in
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every shape or way, and thus throw the whole computation
wrong. If, then, my success is not so
great as my hopes, my disappointment will be rendered
less when I reflect that all menare liable to the same fallacy.
Before I conclude this exhortium, I may be permitted to
say that although now and then Imay speak with a tone of levity,
yet nothing but a conscientious wish to serve my fellow
(16:04):
creatures, and a desire to root out, if possible, the greatest
scourge to the human race, wouldhave induced me to give this
work to the world. And I have preferred sometimes a
good-natured word to 1 of reproof, knowing too well that
anything in the shape of a sermon on the subject of human
frailty would be thrown aside astwaddle by that class of persons
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for whom I write. If my book fulfills the ends I
have just stated, which are all I have in view in writing it, it
will much contribute to my happiness.
Chapter 2 hints on the best methods of treating slight
accidents that are of frequent occurrence to men about town, as
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black eyes, strains, etcetera, etcetera.
He who plays at bowls must expect rubbers.
Proverb. What strange adventure do you
now pursue? Perhaps my succor or advisement.
Meet Mustang. You much, Spencer.
Tybalt. Gentleman.
Good deer. A word with one of you,
Mercutio, and but one word with one of us.
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Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow.
Tybalt, you shall find me apartment.
Enough at that, Sir, if you giveme occasion.
Romeo and Juliet. There are no class of persons
more liable to what may be called minor accidents than men
about town. Such accidents as may and do
occur in the gymnasium, the fencing school, or in a
(17:28):
breathing with the gloves, or albeit in a flare up with the
police. It is such accidents only that
it is my intention to hint at the severer classes I am sure my
readers would be too wise to take into their own hands, and
would without delay hasten to the surgeon.
My hints will therefore be confined to the best modes of
treating bruises, blows, sprains, or strains, bleeding
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from the nose, and dislocations of the thumb, which frequently
occurs when giving a forcible blow.
One of the most disfiguring and most common accidents is that
known by the vulgar as a black eye and by the fair.
It has always, no matter its origin, designated disgraceful,
and some even term it the true livery of blaggardism.
(18:12):
If such is the case, it must be very desirable to get rid of
this distinguishing feature. I shall not pause to describe
all of the possible ways of acquiring it, but shall
endeavour briefly to describe its appearance, though doubtless
that is tolerably familiar to mygood friends and readers.
One of the best excuses I have heard for having in one's
possession a black eye, was thatmade by 1/2 witted and not very
(18:35):
obstemious lady who said she fell going upstairs in the dark
and struck her eye against her toe, not being able to see it.
Will my reader adopt this very original and probable excuse?
Reve no Anomuton the appearance of an incipient black eye are,
when first received, redness andswelling.
The next hour, or perhaps day, it is blue and livid.
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That then becomes fully black, and when subsiding, purple,
blue, slate colored, green and yellow.
In short, the number of its tints and hues emulates the
rainbow, which it does not quitevie with in beauty.
Without proper management, it takes a week or a fortnight to
remove all appearance of this accident, which, while it lasts
and stares, to use an Irishism, its unfortunate owner, and
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everyone else in the face. It gives to all who see it the
idea that its possessor has beenkeeping company with a grade of
persons whose rank does not exceed that of a Hackney
coachman, or an omnibus cat, or a professional bully.
But I trust, dear reader, that if such a mischance as a blow on
the eye may befall thee, by attending to my hints, you will
avoid its blackening altogether,or have it easily removed.
(19:44):
Hint 1. As soon as the blow is received
on the eye or other part of the face, and the skin is not
broken, bathe it well in hot vinegar or spirit, but as soon
as the following lotion can be procured, apply it by means of
lint, which is to be kept continually wet with it.
Take of hydrochlorate of ammonia, 2 drams rectified
spirit, 2 oz Rose water 4 oz. Mix for a lotion to be
(20:07):
continually applied to the part hint 2.
When going to bed, if you can procure it, apply the scraped
root of the flower called Solomon's seal, placed between
two pieces of muslin. This root is generally kept by
druggists in a fresh state. If you cannot procure this,
apply a pledge it of linen wet with the lotion, and over the
pledge it a piece of oiled silk,to prevent evaporation in the
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morning. If the blow has not been very
violent, there will be but very little appearance of it
remaining. Hint Three.
If you are so circumstanced thatyou cannot procure the lotion or
Solomon's seal, try raw beef or scraped potatoes.
Frequently changed. Hint 4.
If the blow has been so heavy asto cause immediate closure of
the eye, two or three incisions may be made through the skin to
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let out the blood and the bleeding, encouraged by warm
water. Afterwards the lotion is to be
applied as already recommended. Hint 5.
If the knuckles of the striker have cut the skin, do not be in
a hurry to apply sticking plaster, but encourage the
bleeding. Hint 6.
If in the morning you have a moderate black eye, which you
must be rid of, have a few electric sparks passed through
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the part. To illustrate the benefit to be
derived from this hint, I will relate part of a lecture I heard
some 10 years ago, delivered by Mr. Granville Sharp Pattison,
then Professor of Anatomy at theLondon University, and I fancy
with tolerable correctness, as Itook notes of it at the time.
The learned Professor stated that one of the secretaries of
(21:35):
the legation dining out, became tell it not in gath slightly
inabriated, and in walking home by some very unaccountable means
got into a row in the street or elsewhere, and received a blow
which he took no notice of, but in the morning, when consulting
his mirror on the propriety of shaving, found himself the
unhappy holder of a pretty considerable black eye.
(21:57):
I'm quoting the learned professor here.
To add to the chagrin of the case, he was bidden that evening
to attend a formal dinner given by our minister to the Embassy,
of which he was attache, and from which he could not
consistently with his duty, absent himself.
Nor could he very well attend such a dinner of free and
enlightened citizens with his face checkered like a draft
(22:18):
board. He consulted various artists,
that is said on the practicability of painting out
the black, but did not meet withmuch success, and in great
distress of mind, said ProfessorP.
He came to me to know if surgical art could avail him
what was to be done. I ordered lotions, embrocations,
and fomentations, which were oneafter the other, diligently
(22:39):
applied, but without removing the damned spot.
Time wore away, and it was now 5:00 when the dinner took place.
At 8:00 a thought struck me thatelectricity might be of service,
and I took him to an electrician, and put him upon a
stool with glass legs, and had sparks passed through the part.
In half an hour or so the livid colour of the lid was removed,
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and he attended the ministerial dinner without a flaw in his
countenance or character, and not a little ungrateful to his
surgeon. Before having recourse to
electricity, of course, the inflammation should be reduced
as much as possible by the meansalready alluded to, and I beg my
readers to recollect that sparks, not shocks, are
required. I have little doubt that
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magnetism, not animal, would have as good an effect as
electricity, if applied by meansof a large magnet of the
horseshoe form. This hint I throw out for the
consideration of Doctor Turnbullparticularly.
That sometimes happens, as I already said, that the blow is
so heavy that the eye is swelledup in a moment.
I have already given one hint onthe best treatment and will now
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take leave to offer a few more in consideration from my patient
reader. Hint one.
If the swelling, as I already said, takes place immediately
from the violence of the blow, the best advice I can offer is
that you should lie in bed and foment the part with a decoction
of poppy heads and chamomile flowers, and at night apply a
poultice. Probably by these means the eye
(24:03):
will be open next morning, but it will be bloodshot and
inflamed, and these cannot be speedily removed.
Hint to reduce your diet, avoid wine, spirits and Porter, and
purge yourself well with Epsom salts or sidelets powders.
The When the swelling begins to go down, the lotion already
prescribed may be applied. Hint 3.
(24:23):
When blackness only remains, youmay remove it by electricity, or
the following embrocation may prove of great service.
Take of compound of liniment of Cam. 414 drams.
Tincture of kantharides 2 Drams.Mix a piece of lint wet with
this embrocation to be applied frequently.
But confinement to the house or the use of a green shade when
(24:43):
you go out is almost always required when the blow has been
a severe one, to hide the consequences from the public.
Hints on bloody noses. If the blow has been only
slight, the bleeding will be of service and should be allowed to
continue for a short time. But if the bleeding is violent,
or if there's much tuma faction of the gnomon of the face,
attend to the following hints. Hint One.
(25:06):
Restrain the bleeding by bathingthe face, especially the feature
itself and forehead, with cold water, and let the sufferer
sniff up a little vinegar and water.
Hint 2. Away the swelling by
fomentations. Afterward use the lotion already
prescribed for black eyes. Hint three.
If the knuckles of the opponent have removed the skin, don't be
(25:27):
in a hurry to dress the part, but when obliged to go out, do
so with flesh colored gold beaters skin.
It not infrequently happens thatfrom a slip of the foot in a set
to with the gloves, foils, or other exercise, a sprain or
strain is given to the knee, wrist or ankle.
This, if neglected, will cause much swelling of the part, and
great pain, requiring leeches, etcetera, to reduce it.
(25:50):
But if as soon as it is received, the following hints
are attended to, much of such inconvenience will be obviated.
Hint 1. As soon as a strain is received,
place the part in cold water, orapply cold water to it.
Hint 2. But as soon as any of the
following remedies can be got ready, discontinue the water and
apply one of them. They are hot vinegar, hot
(26:11):
spirit, or hot leaves of port wine.
Let this fomentation be applied very diligently throughout the
day. Hint 3.
Before going to bed, apply a poultice made of equal parts of
oatmeal or bran, with flintseed meal and boiling vinegar.
Very generally there will be no swelling remaining in the
morning, but if there is, continue the fomentation and
poultice at night. Hint four.
(26:34):
Let the part have perfect rest. If the wrist is sprained, put it
in a sling if the knee or ankle rested on the sofa until all
pain has subsided. To attempt to use a limb, if
badly sprained, is madness, and may cause you to be confined to
the house as long as would a broken bone.
Hint 5. When the swelling has in a great
measure subsided, the cure will be expedited by use of one of
(26:56):
the following embrocations. The first is to be chosen if the
pain is great. When it is not, the second or
third will probably be the best adopted to the case.
Number one. Take of opium.
Liniment, 10 drams, Strong liquor of ammonia, 2 drams, and
this is to be well rubbed on thePart 3 or 4 times a day #2 Take
(27:16):
of Cam, 4. Liniment, 1 oz.
Tincture of Litta, half an ouncemix, to be used three or four
times a day. Or #3 Take of olive oil, 10
drams, Rectified oil of turpentine, half an ounce.
Solution of carbonate of ammonia2.
Drams Mix to be used as above directed.
Hint 6. When these lineaments have been
(27:37):
made use of for some time, and nothing but weakness is left,
pumping water on the part two orthree times a day helps
materially to restore the strength of the limb.
As for a great length of time itis probable that more or less
weakness will remain in the part, more especially if the
sprain has been a bad one, it will be proper to surround the
joint with a strengthening plaster and a bandage.
(27:58):
After a severe sprain much caution must be used, or the
inflammation may return and be very troublesome.
Therefore the limb must be used as little as possible.
If the arm, keep it in a sling. If the leg and you must walk,
use a crutch or stick. My readers may think I am laying
too great a stress on such an accident, but I can assure them
that many sprains require as much care, and will confine them
(28:21):
as long to their sofa, as would a fracture or dislocation if
neglected in the first instance.It is common to hear, Oh, it is
only a sprain, But, but what is a sprain?
Why, a stretching, or even a laceration of the ligaments
which bind the bones together, and which form the hinge of the
joint. And besides, from the peculiar
anatomical structure of the parts about a joint, they are
(28:42):
highly prone to acute, subacute,and destructive inflammations,
which often render persons cripples for life.
Therefore I say, beware of neglecting a sprain in giving a
forcible blow. It sometimes happens that the
thumb is dislocated, and becauseit is a small part of the body
it is often treated with contempt.
But dislocations of the thumb require considerable dexterity
(29:05):
to reduce them, and if allowed to remain some hours without
attention, they become extremelydifficult of reduction.
If, then, such an accident befall one of my readers, let
him apply to a surgeon at once, or if very late in the evening,
and he can trust a friend, his friend may reduce it for him by
attending to my hints on the subject.
But first, all of the symptoms indicating the displacement are
(29:26):
to be considered. Let me then hint that the thumb
may be dislocated at the first or second joint, or at that
nearest the wrist. If that nearest the wrist, the
head of the bone will be felt and seen to form a swelling
where none was before. This swelling will move
backwards and forwards when the thumb is moved by a bystander.
The sufferer himself cannot movethat thumb without he uses his
(29:48):
other hand to do it, and it gives him great pain to attempt
it. Now attend to the following
hints. Hint One.
This dislocation must be reduceddirectly.
If left till morning, the swelling will be so great that a
surgeon would experience much difficulty in ascertaining the
nature of the injury, if he could at all.
Hint, too. If, then, a surgeon cannot be
(30:08):
got that night, proceed thus. Let one person grasp the injured
hand firmly and hold it steady, whilst the other pulls the thumb
toward himself. The principal operator at the
same time presses with his thumbs toward the head of the
bone, forcing it toward the palm, and this puts it in its
place. When this is done the tumor will
have disappeared. Hint 3.
(30:29):
The bone is very liable to slip out again if great care is not
taken. The thumb should therefore be
bandaged to the hand, and the arm put in a sling.
A surgeon will apply the proper splints and bandages if it
require any. In the morning.
Apply to 1. Early hint 4.
The inflammation must be kept down by the application of a
spirit lotion, which may be thusmade.
(30:49):
Take a whiskey or other spirit. 2 Wine glassfuls.
Water. 6 wine glassfuls. Mix the bandage to be kept
constantly wet and cold with this lotion.
The dislocation of the other joints of the thumb are known by
the projection of the bone at the joint, and the unusual
manner in which the thumb is bent.
To reduce these dislocations. Listen to hint one.
(31:11):
Pass a piece of wet wash leatheraround the thumb and immediately
below the injured part. This is to prevent injury to the
skin. Hint two Over this leather pass
a piece of tape about two yards long and secure it by a clove
hitch. This is for purpose of making
extension. Hint three.
Let the hand be secured in the same way as before pointed out,
and then let the operator wrap apart of the tape around his
(31:34):
hand, and make a very gradual but forcible extension.
At the same time he with his left hand, endeavors to carry
the bone into its socket. These dislocations sometimes are
very difficult of reduction, anda surgeon should always be
applied to if practicable. Hint four.
Place a bandage around the jointand the arm in the sling,
because these dislocations are very apartment to recur.
(31:56):
Hint 5. Prepare the lotion as before
pointed out. Hint 6.
As soon as all swelling is gone down, have a plaster placed
around the joint to strengthen it.
The more serious accidents whichbefall those who walk oh nights
it would be out of place here tospeak of.
I am convinced my friends about town would have too much noose
about them to become their own doctors, and have, as everyone
(32:19):
has in such circumstances, a fool for his patient.
Well Manabs, that is all I've got for tonight.
Have a fantastic rest of your Tuesday and I will be back in
your ears once again if you choose to give me such an honor
this coming Saturday evening forour next regular episode of the
(32:40):
Penny Dreadful Story Hour. Now go fill up the rest of this
week with good stuff. Bye now.
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