CONTENTS
CHAPTER  I. How to Treat Fractures, Sprains and Dislocations

CHAPTER  II. Caring for Burns, Cuts, Drowning, and Minor Accidents

CHAPTER  III. Medical Treatment of Camp Diseases

CHAPTER  IV. Serpent Wounds and Their Treatment

The Camper's Medicine Chest





WARNING: The text and methods described herein are 100 years old! (or more) Please keep this in mind at all times.

The reason we include this (as well as any "dawn of technology" or pre-industrial age texts is threefold:

1.) Historical context ~ to see how far we've come;
2.) Uncertain future ~ to realize where we may end up once again if we are not more careful in choosing our political leadership ... and finally,
3.) JUST IN CASE we do find ourselves, once again, in primitive times or conditions - without hope for anything better - then it is good to know how we took care of things when it was do-or-die.

These techniques, except where parallel to and confirmed by modern methods, should only be considered under the most dire circumstances where access to more modern methods is impossible and the hope for rescue is non-existant.
 

CHAPTER III
MEDICAL TREATMENT OF CAMP DISEASES

IN this day of compact pharmaceuticals one can carry a complete equipment of medicines in a vest pocket almost. 
The old day of ponderous powders and nauseating liquids has passed. The physician now who prescribes for his 
patients immense bottles of "shotgun" mixtures writes himself down a back number. This manner of administering
drugs can be taken advantage of by the man who wishes to carry with him upon his outing a supply of remedies for 
the relief of such ailments as may befall him.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said in delivering an address to the graduating medical class of Harvard, "Young men, 
you have been taught here at least twenty remedies for every disease; after you have practiced medicine twenty 
years you will have one remedy for twenty diseases."

The genial autocrat was nearly right. The longer one continues in the practice of medicine, the fewer remedies he 
learns to depend upon. An Irish medical friend of mine once put the thing in very apt form when he said, "If I had to 
practice medicine on an island where I could have only three remedies, I should choose castor oil, opium, and 
strychnia. I'd physic them with the castor oil, constipate them with the opium, and stimulate them with the strychnia."
These remarks are a little beside the subject, but I am constrained to quote them to illustrate that but few medicines 
are needed, if these be well understood, and the indications for their use can be mastered by anyone in a short 
time.

	[SSRsi Note: Most of these medicines have been replaced by safer and more 
	effective modern alternatives. Consult with your local M.D.]

For the past several years my emergency medical case has contained only ten remedies, and with these I have not 
hesitated to make professional trips of many miles. The case should be made of sole leather with a pocket for a 
small note book and loops for a clinical thermometer. The bottles should hold half an ounce and have screw caps.
Have the glazier etch with his diamond the numbers from 1 to 10 on the sides of the bottles. The reason for this is
that numbers pasted on are liable to rub off, and as many tablets look much alike confusion may occur. Then fill 
them in this manner:

No. 1 : Calomel, gr. 1/4. Make this entry in the little note book that is contained in the pocket. "No. 1, calomel gr. 1/4.
Dose, one tablet every thirty minutes for four hours. Indications, biliousness, headache from disordered stomach, 
diarrhea, colds, and the beginning of all fevers."

No. 2 : Dosimetric trinity (Full strength). Dose, one granule every half hour until skin becomes moist. Indications, all 
fevers, colds, threatened pneumonia, and threatened typhoid.

No. 3 : Chlorodyne. Dose, one tablet every hour to relief. Indications, any gastric pain, cramps, diarrhea (after 
cleaning out the bowels), colic, acute indigestion. 

No. 4: Intestinal antiseptic. Dose, one tablet every hour for four hours; then one every three hours. Indications, after
bowels have been cleaned out to correct any disorder of the tract, as a routine treatment of typhoid; always 
valuable in diarrhea and other inflammatory conditions of the bowels.

No. 5: Quinine sulphate, gr. 5. Dose, one tablet every four hours. Indications, colds and catarrh, bilious fevers, 
specific in malaria.

No. 6: Elaterin, gr. 1/16. Dose, one tablet. Indications, to remove all fermenting food matters in the stomach and 
bowels, produces excessive watery evacuations. Valuable in dropsy; especially applicable where you want to get rid
of the entire contents of the bowels.

No. 7: Phenacetine, gr. 5. Dose, one tablet every three hours to profuse perspiration. Indications, reduce fever 
where pulse is full and bounding. Relieves headache; taken early cures severe cold.

No. 8 : Sun Cholera. Dose, one every three hours. Indications, similar to No. 3, only more powerful, valuable in 
severe summer complaint due to eating fresh fruit, meat, drinking too much water. Relieves gastric pain.

No. 9 : Apomorphia hydrochlorate, gr. 1/10. Dose, two tablets followed by swallow of hot water. Indications, as an 
emetic in poisoning. Use cautiously.

No. 10: Digitalin, gr. 1/100. Dose, one tablet every hour to effect. Indications, the most powerful heart tonic and 
reconstructive. Must be used cautiously. Valuable in loss of blood, excessive heart action from altitude, and all 
conditions where heart is not performing properly.

It will be noted that I did not mention morphine, strychnia, or cocaine, as they were spoken of in connection with the 
hypodermic. In the case I also place a one-minute clinical thermometer. All of these instruments are now made 
self-registering and must be shaken down after each using. This should be done, not by a jar, but with a long 
sweep of the arm. Too sudden a jar will snap the instrument in two. Shake until the mercury column stands below
the A mark. This A mark indicates the body heat at normal condition, that is, 98.4° F.

Every man should familiarize himself with certain physiological facts, and with these as guideposts he ought to be 
able to follow a train of indications to a reasonably fair diagnosis. The pulse rate, taken at the wrist, is generally a 
fair index of the condition of the body. The normal man has a pulse rate of about seventy-two beats per minute, 
women somewhat more rapid; high elevations also produce a more rapid pulse. If there is an increase of heart beat 
above eighty per minute, accompanied by other subjective symptoms, it is an indication that something is wrong. In 
the absence of a clinical thermometer, one can arrive at a pretty fair knowledge of the body heat by counting the 
pulse. It is estimated that there will be an elevation of one degree F. for every ten beats above the normal. This 
rule varies, but is a fair average.

The appearance of the tongue is a valuable signpost, but one that is difficult of mastery. A few prominent 
indications will be noted. A thin, white, even furring of the tongue is indicative of gastric disturbances and mild fever 
states. A flabby, swollen, indented tongue covered with a uniform yellow, pasty fur is indicative of profound gastric
states and gastro-duodenitis; it may also be produced by a continued moderate fever. A narrow tongue, with deep 
median fissure on each side of which is a thick rough fur, the tip and edges being red and denuded, is 
characteristic of typhoid states whether arising from typhoid or not. The same condition will be found in profound 
intoxication from septic poisons. If the tongue becomes dry and brown, tremulous when protruded, and the patient 
returns it slowly when requested to do so, he has typhoid beyond question. A brown fur on the root of the tongue,
especially in the morning, indicates a sluggish condition of the liver. In jaundice the tongue is yellow.

It is estimated that the normal man in a state of rest will breathe sixteen times per minute. Any radical departure 
from the rate will indicate disease. An increase of two respirations per minute is supposed to indicate a rise of one 
degree F. in the body temperature, though this rule is subject to variations. Inspection of the bare chest tells the
trained physician much regarding the condition of his patient and even the layman can glean much knowledge from 
that source.

If the patient is breathing from twenty five to thirty-five times per minute, the respiration being confined to one lung 
as indicated by the lack of expansion in the other, and if he lies so as to take the strain off the lung that does not 
expand, it is almost sure that the patient has pneumonia. In case the lung is fixed rigidly by the muscles and the 
opposite lung forced to do all the work, then the patient has pleurisy.

In profound typhoid states the breathing is very much slowed and irregular, at last presenting what is known as the 
Cheyne-Stokes respiration, in which the patient will breathe several short shallow respirations, pause for a time, 
heave a deep sigh and then repeat the rapid breathing. This type of breathing is looked upon as a very grave 
symptom in all conditions characterized by lack of physical strength.

It will be readily appreciated that only enough discussion of symptoms has been given above to aid somewhat in 
arriving at a diagnosis. To go deeply into physical indications of diseases would be manifestly out of place in an 
article of this character. We will now proceed to the consideration of the diseases that will be most frequently 
encountered in the camp. Of these the intestinal troubles stand pre-eminent. Change of water, food, methods of 
life, and personal habits account for the fact that nearly every person who seeks the outdoors at some time during 
his stay is afflicted with some one of the diarrheas. Without attempting to go deeply into the various classifications 
of the enteric complaints, a brief resume of the guiding symptoms common to all will be given.

It matters very little so far as the treatment is concerned whether it be an ileocolitis, an ileitis, or simply colitis. The 
same treatment would obtain in each case, and the same general trend of symptoms would be present. The patient 
feels a general indisposition, loss of appetite, headache, and sleeplessness, which is followed by pain and griping in
the bowels; then comes the diarrhea, which may be profuse and watery or scanty and accompanied by much pain. 
The evacuations become exceedingly frequent, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty per day. The patient vomits 
frequently and is quite ill, his face becomes pinched and dusky, with an anxious look in the eyes. There is some
fever and thirst, though the water drunk is generally vomited. In the above has been pictured an extreme case of 
summer diarrhea. There will be all gradations below this, from a mere soreness of the abdomen and looseness of 
the bowels up to profound prostration from constant drain on the system induced by the evacuations.

By a sort of strange medical paradox, in order to stop the evacuations it becomes necessary to increase them. We 
must sweep out the nest of troublesome bacteria that are causing the disturbance. An ordinary cathartic will not 
accomplish this. It is necessary to administer something that will produce a profuse watery discharge from the
bowels. Nothing accomplishes this better than a heaping tablespoonful of Epsom salts in hot water, but as we have 
not provided for such bulky medicines in our case we will give our patient one tablet of elaterin which will accomplish
the same purpose.

Then, too, the patient is not nearly so liable to vomit the elaterin. If he does, however, the vomiting can be 
controlled by the administration of cocaine by the mouth, though this latter drug must be used very cautiously. A 
tablet of 1/4 gr. cocaine hydrochlorate given in a swallow of hot water will stop vomiting until the other remedies
can produce their effect. Before giving any other medicines await the free action of the cathartic.

	[SSRsi Note: Of course, this is no longer acceptable practice. Consult with your local M.D.]

The patient should have at least three very copious discharges; then begin to combat the inflammatory condition 
that exists in the bowels. The chlorodyne tablet will in all ordinary cases, do this best of all your remedies. There will 
be some few instances where it will be necessary to resort to more powerful remedies; in that case the Sun Cholera 
tablet given according to directions is the best. As an after treatment in these cases the intestinal antiseptic gives 
the best results. A tablet every four hours for two days will annihilate every vestige of bacterial invasion that may 
remain.

Bronchial and pulmonary diseases supply a large percentage of the camp ailments in the fall and early winter 
during the deer hunting season. An attack of pneumonia following a severe drenching from being out all day in a 
rain, or accidentally tumbling into the creek, is not a pleasant thing to contemplate. It usually comes in the night. 
The patient wakes out of a sound sleep with a chill. There is a sharp sticking pain as though a knife were being 
thrust between the ribs, at some point on the chest wall. The breath comes in short gasps and the patient 
instinctively turns toward the affected side in order to ease the pain.

The chill may or may not be followed by vomiting, and the fever lights up immediately, rising to 102-4° F. A 
distressing short cough comes along to add to the discomfort as each act of coughing increases the pain in the 
chest. In less than twenty-four hours the patient begins to expectorate what we call "prune-juice" mucus, that is, 
mucus streaked with blood until it resembles the juice of cooked prunes. When you see this "prune juice" you need 
have no doubt as to the diagnosis. You should, however, have been busy long before this.

There is no doubt now among educated physicians that pneumonia, taken in time, can be aborted. When the pain 
first manifests itself set somebody to baking hot cakes made from flour stirred with water. While these are still as hot
as can be borne lay them over the painful spot on the lung, renewing as fast as they become cool. To accomplish
much good this treatment must be kept up until the period of expectoration and even after, at least twenty-four 
hours. At the same time begin by administering calomel in 1/4 gr. doses every thirty minutes until at least three 
grains have been given.

	[SSRsi Note: There are TWO types of pneumonia - Bacterial, which is treated with
	antibiotics, and Viral, which has no proven medicine for treatment. Consult with 
	your local M.D.]

Two hours after the last tablet of calomel has been given, give a tablet of elaterin. When the latter has "worked," 
start in with the dosimetric trinity tablets and push them until the skin becomes moist and the fever falls below 100° 
F. Do not give any of the coal tar products in pneumonia, that is, do not give phenacetine or acetanilide. When the 
patient is recovering it is well to keep up the heart by strychnia or digitalin.

	[SSRsi Note: For the love of God, disregard this advice! Consult with your local M.D.]

There is such a thing as giving too much of these heart stimulants though, and you should watch the pulse closely. 
Stimulating the heart too greatly is liable to cause congestion of the small blood vessels in the lungs and defeat the 
very purpose you set out to accomplish.

Taking "cold" is a very popular camp method of feeling bad. The man who does not at least once, while in camp, 
stuff himself full of a good old-fashioned "cold" feels that he has been cheated out of a part of the enjoyment of his 
outing. For the benefit of those of his companions who do not appreciate his "barking" in season and out, the 
following rules are suggested: First, take a bath; it may be painful but necessary. Second, assist overworked 
eliminants to remove the debris that has accumulated by reason of the failure of the ordinary processes of waste 
removal.

This can be done very nicely with a heroic dose of calomel; by heroic about three grains is meant. Follow up the 
calomel with several five-grain doses of phenacetine, or until the patient is in a profuse perspiration, roll him in 
warm blankets, and await developments. A careful observance of the foregoing will annihilate any able-bodied 
"cold" on earth.

	[SSRsi Note: See above note. Consult with your local M.D.]

The man who contracts rheumatism in camp has my sincere sympathy. It requires no special skill to tell when one 
has it, but it does require special powers of divination to tell when he will get rid of it. Medical science has 
discovered only one drug that will affect the progress of the disease in the least, and that only after an extended 
course. Salicylic acid in one or another of its various combinations furnishes the sheet anchor in the treatment of 
rheumatism. I purposely omitted it from our pocket case of drugs because of the fact that the combination that
would suit one man's stomach would not another.

In practice we have to take many things into consideration in the administration of the salicylates. The man with 
rheumatism in camp can seek only to relieve the pain and assist Nature to eliminate the waste. A thorough flushing 
of the bowels should be the first thing, followed by aconitine, gr. 1/134, one tablet every hour for four hours; then 
one every three hours. At the same time keep dry. If it be a limb that is affected wrap it in blankets and "cook" it in 
front of the fire.

Cases of poisoning arising in camp will usually be confined to two causes—the eating of poisoned foods and eating 
poisonous mushrooms. In these days of tinned meats and vegetables it is not unusual to hear of persons becoming 
seriously and even fatally poisoned by eating certain canned goods. Canned fish and beef are the worst offenders
in this regard.

The symptoms of ptomaine poisoning are characteristic and generally easily traced to the material producing them. 
There is a dryness and metallic taste in the mouth shortly after eating suspected food. This is followed by severe 
cramps, vomiting, violent purging, rapid loss of strength, great depression and coldness of the surface of the body.
The hands and face break out in clammy sweat and the temperature falls below normal. The picture is very 
characteristic and when once seen is readily recognized.

	[SSRsi Note: Ptomaine poisoning is the obsolete theory that food poisoning is caused by 
	ptomaines. Ptomaine poisoning is a term not longer used medically. When proteins are 
	decomposed by bacteria, ptomaines are formed, which are compounds that contain 
	nitrogen. Ptomaine Poisoning While foods that have gone bad often contain ptomaines, 
	the body does not react negatively to the compounds. However, the body does react 
	negatively to certain bacteria. Consequently, it is bacteria that can cause illness from 
	food. Ptomaines are merely present in the contaminated foods, but are not what sickens 
	individuals. Consult with your local M.D.]

The treatment consists in getting rid of the offending substance as quickly as possible. Nothing accomplishes this 
more readily than a quick emetic. Apomorphia hydrochlorate furnishes us with the most convenient emetic, though 
mustard water or hot salt water will do. Take a tablet of 1/10 gr. apomorphia hypodermically, or two tablets of the 
same size by the mouth, followed by a swallow of hot water. Hypodermically the emetic acts in a very short time; by 
the mouth it requires somewhat longer, say ten minutes. Purge the bowels with elaterin, one tablet, then keep up
the vital forces by administering strychnia, 1/60 gr. every hour or two, watching the circulation meanwhile. In severe 
cases, in addition to the strychnia, it may become necessary to resort to external heat, hot water bottles, hot stones,
etc.

	[SSRsi Note: Of course, this is no longer acceptable practice. Consult with your local M.D.]

The patient is much debilitated for several days and requires careful diet. Mushrooms should never be eaten 
unless the person gathering them is known to be thoroughly conversant with the different varieties. Certain 
poisonous varieties resemble the edible so closely that only an expert can tell the difference. The knowledge, 
however, is one that every hunter and camper should familiarize himself with as mushrooms are usually plenty in 
the hills and furnish an agreeable addition to the menu.

Phalline, the toxic principle of the phalloida group of mushrooms, is a toxalbumin of extreme violence and resembles
very much the toxic albuminose of rattlesnake virus; in fact, it seems to act upon the digestion very much as crotalin
does upon the circulation. There is another toxic principle present in certain other varieties of fungi called 
muscarine; both these poisons act very similarly.

The symptoms are a feeling of giddiness coming on from one hour to fifteen hours after eating the fungus. This is 
followed by profuse salivation, the water running out of the patient's mouth in a stream. Blindness ensues, and 
vomiting and diarrhea come in their train. The heart is weakened and the patient breathes with difficulty. At the last
he lies in a stupor.

The treatment is similar to that of ptomaine poisoning. Remove the offending material at once by the same process. 
For a purgative oleaginous agents are the best if available, castor oil being preferable; failing in that any active 
cathartic will do. The heart then must be stimulated by the digitalin; strychnia also plays a prominent role here.

	[SSRsi Note: for modern treatment methods see: Toxicity, Mushroom - Amatoxin: Treatment & 
	Medication. Consult with your local M.D.]

It had not been my intention to mention typhoid, but upon reflection I have decided to include it. Typhoid fever is 
little liable to attack people living under such conditions as exist in the mountains where the air is pure, the water 
comes from eternal springs, and flies are few. Summer camps along lake shores and the larger, slow-moving 
streams are liable to it, and it is just as well to recognize it when it arrives.

The person about to come down with typhoid generally feels extremely tired for several days, the head and back 
ache, the nose frequently bleeds slightly, a rumbling is present in the right side just below the ribs, and the ears 
rings as though one had taken an overdose of quinine. The tongue is characteristic of the disease, so much so, in 
fact, that we speak of a particular condition as the typhoid tongue.

After a few days the patient begins to feel feverish. All the symptoms increase until he is quite ill and takes to his 
bed. About this time tiny red spots called "rose spots" appear on the abdomen, perhaps only a few, again they are 
quite frequent. The mind becomes dull and the hearing imperfect. Typhoid is said to be a self-limiting disease, that 
is, it cannot be cut short or aborted in any way. That, however, is hardly the case. By vigorous treatment, at the 
outset, it is now thought by a great many that the disease can be limited to a few days. If the treatment is not begun 
early and carried out, the disease will run a course of some twenty-one days.

The treatment consists in eradicating the nest of typhoid bacillus that is setting up the disturbance. Here, again, we 
resort to calomel. Four grains given in quarter-grain doses every half hour will usually produce sufficiently free 
passages. After this administer the intestinal antiseptic religiously, with aconitine for the fever. Give plenty of water 
to drink and restrict the diet. If the disease gets beyond control, the routine treatment is the intestinal antiseptic.

	[SSRsi Note: Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonellae typhi bacteria. Typhoid fever is 
	contracted by the ingestion of contaminated food or water. Diagnosis of typhoid fever is 
	made when the Salmonella bacteria is detected with a stool culture. Typhoid fever is 
	treated with antibiotics. Typhoid fever symptoms are poor appetite, headaches, 
	generalized aches and pains, fever, and lethargy. Approximately 3%-5% of patients 
	become carriers of the bacteria after the acute illness. Consult with your local M.D.]

Cold packs for the fever, in the later stages of the disease, will be found preferable to any medicines. All the time 
the diet should be watched. No solid foods should be allowed. Milk, light broths, fruit juices, and rice water supply 
sufficient nourishment and do not irritate the tender glands of Peyer and Brunner that are the seat of the disease. 
These glands become very friable in typhoid, and any violent action of the walls of the intestines, as in digesting
food, will cause them to break through and permit the bowel contents to enter the general peritoneal cavity, when
the patient will die from inflammation of the bowels.		


End of Chapter 3
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