t be great enough to cause any discomfort, but
sufficient to give a fine sense of relief. This application is for a
wound which has _not_ become inflamed, but is doing well.

When inflammation has set in, and the patient is fevered, the opposite
treatment is applied. Over the dressing apply three or four folds of
dry cotton cloth, and over this again apply cold towels (_see_ Towels,
Cold Wet) until the pain is relieved. Good sense must regulate this
treatment, of course, and excess of cold be avoided. But with ordinary
care this need never cause anxiety.

Wounds, Syringing.--Very great good can often be done by a little
careful syringing of internal wounds. Take, as an illustration, a case
of a kind we have often seen. It is that of a young patient with a
wound on the lower part of the leg, a good long way below the knee.
This wound will run in spite of all that has been done to dry it up.
The opening in it is very small, and one would think it ought to be
easily cured, but it is not so. The truth is that this wound is from
two to three inches distant from where the real sore is situated in the
limb. The wound is well down towards the ankle; the real sore is well
up towards the knee. There is a corroding matter generated in the
internal sore, and that runs down under the skin, and keeps cutting its
way out at the wound. Until this is rectified, there will be no
successful healing. Ointments that might do well enough on a small
external sore have no effect in this case. The real sore, however, is
easily reached and cured by the right use of a small pointed syringe.
The kind most easily procured is made of glass, and costs about
sixpence. Choose one that has a small smooth point, which can be easily
inserted into the hole in the wound. This should be done without
causing any pain. The point of the syringe should be dipped in hot
water till it is as near as possible to blood heat: that is, it should
neither be hotter nor colder than the skin it has to touch. If you are
sufficiently careful on this point, all else will be comparatively
easy.

Before you actually try to insert the syringe, observe in what
direction the wound is likely to be extended under the skin. It will
probably be upwards--almost certainly it will be so, as the waste
matter, by its weight, tends to fall down. The sore at the top
insertion of a muscle near the knee will send its matter down the leg,
perhaps near to the ankle. Fill the syringe with wa