or comes.

Remember that this treatment for broken bones is only to enable the
patient to be moved without further injury. A surgeon is needed at once to
set the broken bone.

[Illustration: Fig. 163.--Showing how a Pillow may be used as a Temporary
Splint in Fracture of the Leg.]

375. Fainting. A fainting person should be laid flat at once. Give
plenty of fresh air, and dash cold water, if necessary, on the head and
neck. Loosen all tight clothing. Smelling-salts may be held to the nose,
to excite the nerves of sensation.

376. Epileptic and Hysterical Fits, Convulsions of Children.
Sufferers from "fits" are more or less common. In _epilepsy_, the sufferer
falls with a peculiar cry; a loss of consciousness, a moment of rigidity,
and violent convulsions follow. There is foaming at the mouth, the eyes
are rolled up, and the tongue or lips are often bitten. When the fit is
over the patient remains in a dazed, stupid state for some time. It is a
mistake to struggle with such patients, or to hold them down and keep them
quiet. It does more harm than good.

See that the person does not injure himself; crowd a pad made from a
folded handkerchief or towel between the teeth, to prevent biting of the
lips or tongue. Do not try to make the sufferer swallow any drink.
Unfasten the clothes, especially about the neck and chest. Persons who are
subject to such fits should rarely go out alone, and never into crowded or
excited gatherings of any kind.

_Hysterical fits_ almost always occur in young women. Such patients never
bite their tongue nor hurt themselves. Placing a towel wrung out in cold
water across the face, or dashing a little cold water on the face or
neck, will usually cut short the fit, speaking firmly to the patient at
the same time. Never sympathize too much with such patients; it will only
make them a great deal worse.

377. Asphyxia. Asphyxia is from the Greek, and means an "absence of
pulse." This states a fact, but not the cause. The word is now commonly
used to mean _suspended animation_. When for any reason the proper supply
of oxygen is cut off, the tissues rapidly load up with carbon dioxid. The
blood turns dark, and does not circulate. The healthy red or pink look of
the lips and finger-nails becomes a dusky purple. The person is suffering
from a lack of oxygen; that is, from asphyxia, or suffocation.
It is evident there can be several varieties of asphyxia, as in apparent
drowning, strangulation an