24 THE Marine REVIEW FOR THE LAKE MARINE In this department hereafter will be found everything of current interest aatigee to Lake Navigation. Masters are advised to consult it- weekly for information i invi it free interest to them; and owners are invited to use it : The Marine Review will be placed aboard every announcements of a general nature. ly for the promulgation of all vessel having membership in the Lake Carriers' Association, representing a registered tonnage of nearly 2,000,000 tons, and can, therefore, be depended upos as a reliable courier to the entire fleet. It will reach every vessel in active service weekly. It - the intention to make this department complete so that at the end of the year it will be an authentic record which should prove of permanent and increasing value to owners and 'masters alike. At the annual meeting of . the 'masters of the Pittsburg Steamship Co. at the Hollenden hotel, Cleveland, last January, a medicine chest was adopted which, it is predicted, will speedily find its way upon all lake steamers. The old form of chest un- derwent practically no form of modi- fication in its translation from salt water to fresh water. The old medi- cine chest was peculiarly designed 'to meet conditions obtaining on long voyages and therefore carried medi- cines for the treatment of fevers and other serious diseases. Lake vessels do not, however, have to cope with these diseases because if a man is stricken with a fever he can be put ashore at tthe next port. The lake medicine chest should be equipped with medicines and materials for the treatment of emergency cases, such as burns, scalds, wounds and broken bones. Appreciating the incongruity of the old chest, Mr. Coulby directed Dr. Harold Wilson, of Conneaut, to get up for the Pittsburg Steamship Co. a medicine chest similar to that adopted by the Red Cross Society. This chest with its equipment was exhibited at the meeting of the masters and was unanimously approved by tthem and will be installed on all of the steam- ers of the Pittsburg Steamship Co.'s fleet by 'the opening of navigation. The chest is of aluminum, divided into compartments, and takes up very lit- tle room. Mr. Coulby invited Dr. Wilson to explain the contents of the chest 'to the masters, and he dd. so in the following language: ADDRESS OF DR. WILSON. "Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, the question of medicine chests has been quite a study on my part during the past summer from the fact that your president has asked me to look into the subject. I find among many of you who carry supplies that sometimes you go amiss, and possibly it is due to the hand book that is furnished to you by the government, which is too elabor- ate. It touches upon conditions, many of which you men must never con- tend with. It has been arranged for deep sea going vessels. Most of the cases which you meet are simply those -- arising from accidental origin, and upon some of the most important, I will give you a few useful hints. The most serious cases you meet wiith are those of burns and scalds. (You may be called aft where a poor fireman has been scalded with steam so badly that his clothing is adhering to his skin.) Captains, remember this one point-- if you have a bath tub-on board your ship, fill it partially full of tepid water and immerse the patient up to_ his neck, clothes and all, so as to exclude the air from the wound, and thus re- duce the pain. In minor cases when practical, immerse the part to give momentarily relief and apply burn lo- tion from case. Apply lotion on gauze or lint to part. When the burn or scald is not severe such as where the skin becomes reddened, a nice thing to use is just ordinary cooking soda. Take a handful of it and throw into half a bucket of water and it makes almost a saturated 'solution which you can apply to the burnt area. The sec- ret in taking care of emergency cases is cleanliness. When you get a lac- erated wound that is bleeding, science has taught us that the most dreaded thing is the infection from the exter- nal side of the house. You may think your hands are clean, you may think the ordinary linen that you take from your home may be clean stuff to use On a wotnd, but it is not, process which this dressing must go through before a surgeon will touch it--it is put under sterilization, that is, it is practically baked at a temper- ature of 250 degrees for several hours thereby clearing it of all foreign or- ganisms or bacilli that might exist within the dressing, and with this idea in mind I have had arranged a case here where the contents of every package which you need in an emer- gency is sterilized. This package as you open it (opening the package as he talked) has been subject to a tem- perature as I said before of 250 de- Cire ~ grees, and thereby becomes sterile. Before we go on with further explan- ation I wish to explain a few dress- ings. Now, the. first thing that we contend with in emergency cases jg hemorrhage, or bleeding. Bleeding, in fact, is a very serious thing, Be: fore approaching a case of laceration where hemorrhage exists, remember what I have said before, gentlemen, approach these cases as clean as pos- sible. If you have a little water at hand and some good soap, ordinary laundry soap is all right, with lots: of lye in it, wash your hands thoroughly and then go to your case and take q 'piece of the gauze. This gauze is ar- ranged in one-yard packages (illustrat- ing by pulling the gauze from one end of a package) and is used to cover lacerations and such injuries where there is hemorrhage; where it is ap- plied direct to the wound. Most of you have been using cotton. The great trouble with cotton is that when the case goes into the hands of a sur- geon, he has got to sit down with his pliers and pick every little piece of cotton out of that wound. Remem- ber, take a piece of gauze from this package and apply it direct to the wound; then take a piece of cotton which is used for absorbing the serous discharged, and lay over the gauze. The purpose of the bandage is simply to hold on or retain the dressing in position. Many of you, no doubt, take hold of a bandage and put it next to a wound but we never do. You apply gauze to the wound and cotton. on top of that, then use your bandage to re- tain the dressing. This same thing ap- plies to burns. For these you can use gauze or if not you can use a piece of lint. In minor burns if you haven't anything else at hand, use ordinary cooking soda, which you can get from the steward, putting it in a pail of water and apply to the burnt part. Aside from this, I have made up 4 lotion consisting of what is known as icthyol, just a 20 per cent solution in alboline or liquid vaseline, so when you meet a 'burn case. you can open your can and pour directly onto the burnt surface. Apply your lint of gauze, then your cotton and hold your dressing in position with the bandage. Many mistakes 'are made among you where a man has met a serious injury or a laceration, of a hand or limb where the member is left dangling A good thing to aid you is to pick up a piece of wood and cover it with cotton, but remem- ber do not put the cotton next to the wound but put the gauze next to it. The use of a splint with the bandage