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Apothecaries' Measure: Never

Cleanliness.-Be always very clean, and keep the room sweet. A very little thing will spoil the appetite of a person already sick. Never let anything offensive, any dressings from a wound or burn, remain in the room. Let every vessel be emptied as soon as it is done with, well washed out, and let in the open air. Change the air frequently by opening the window; bad air will poison a person as surely as bad food. The poison of fever is dangerous or not according as you weaken it with fresh air-just as you make spirit weaker by adding water. Do not leave food in a room if the patient cannot eat it. Do not let the drinking water stand long without being changed, as it absorbs whatever gases there are in the room; so that when the patient drinks it you are actually putting back into his stomach the poison which had been thrown out through the skin.

Firmness. Remember firmness is not rudeness. You cannot expect a suffering patient to know as well what is best for him as those whose brains are clear. Therefore, if a certain thing is best to be done, do it; do it kindly, but do it. Gentleness. Whatever you have to do for the patient, be gentle. In cases of rheumatism or broken limbs you must change the clothes, however painful the process; do it gently, and cause no needless suffering. With care, all jerks and knocks may be avoided.

Patience. Never forget the difference between yourself and the person under your care. Did you never yourself feel irritable and restless even when you were well? Have there not been some days when you had been so easily put out, so cross that you have been almost ashamed of yourself? How, then, must it be with the person taken suddenly from an active life and compelled to lie still in one position, or with one whose whole body is racked with pain ?

Apoplexy.-A sudden suspension of the mental and physical powers. Remove the patient to a cool, well-ventilated room; place him in a reclining or sitting posture, with the head and shoulders slightly raised. Loosen all the tight parts of the sufferer's dress, especially anything passing around the neck. Pour cold water over the head, and keep it cool by means of powdered ice in a bladder or oil-skin bag. Apply mustard plasters to the soles of the feet and the calves of the legs. If the patient be of a full habit, a dozen leeches may be applied behind the ears and on the temples. If food has been taken recently, an emetic of mustard and water may be given; and in order to promote the action of the bowels, a drop of croton-oil should be placed on the tongue, and repeated every two or three hours, till the end is accomplished. In persons of spare habit, a small quantity of stimulant, as wine or brandy, or a teaspoonful of sal-volatile in water, may be given every twenty minutes or half hour. Bleeding should only be resorted to in the last extremity, where there is great danger, and the arrival of the medical man is delayed. Persons of an apoplectic temperament should live moderately, eat plain and unstimulating food, and avoid wine, spirits, beer, etc. Exercise and fresh air are also of the highest importance.