Accidents - Victorian Health and Medicine

Accidents - Victorian Medicine

Accidents - Victorian Health and Medicine

From 'The Dictionary of Daily Wants' - 1858-1859

ACCIDENTS. As there is no age or condition which can insure us against accidents, it is of the utmost importance that we should always be prepared against such contingencies, and that we should have some line of conduct marked out by which we are resolved to act in an emergency.

This faculty is termed presence of mind, and it is to the want of this that the lamentable loss of human life is in many cases attributable. When an accident occurs, firmness of resolution, and coolness of action, are indispensable. In the majority of instances however, it unfortunately happens that the mind, being suddenly overwhelmed by fear becomes as it were paralyzed, and is unequal to the conception of the simplest means by which both life and property might be saved.

It is, therefore, incumbent upon us all the when we are most secure, and the mind is in the full and calm possession of its reasoning powers, we should devise and mature certain plans, to be put into execution in the hour of danger for the preservation of ourselves and the succour of others. There are accidents of daily and hourly occurrence, which the exercise of the commonest prudence might prevent, and which we may be said to rush into through carelessness and indiscretion.

As accidents from whatever causes arc always sudden, and as life may be saved, or much pain and suffering averted, by the promptness with which remedial agents are applied, every household should have a few of the most necessary articles always at hand in case of emergency. Wherever there are children, such appliances as will at once assuage the anguish of a burn, or stop the effusion of blood, become absolutely imperative, as before a medical man can be obtained much time is lost; and in the anxiety and confusion consequent on an accident, and in the hope of giving the sufferer some relief, the most injudicious means are often, erroneously, employed.

ARTICLES TO BE KEPT IN THE HOUSE FOR ALL CASES OF ACCIDENT.

These should be kept together in a box or drawer, so as to be ready at any moment.

The use and application of these articles will be explained under the different headings by which various accidents are distinguished. - See also BURNS, COPPER, DROWNING, FIRES, LEAD, POISONS, &c.

ACCIDENTS, RESPONSIBILITY FOR. When one person meets with an accident through the carelessness and negligence of another, the amount of the damage sustained thereby is recoverable by action at law. If, for instance, a person falls into a cellar which opens into a public thoroughfare, and it is proved that such cellar was not properly guarded at the time, all expenses and losses attendant upon such accident - namely, medical attendance, loss of wages, salary, or any other form of income, both present and prospective, may be sued for against the owner or occupier of the cellar in question. The same responsibility also exists where the servants of an employer cause an accident, the employer being considered by the law as answerable for the acts of the employed. - See MASTER AND SERVANT,

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