ANSWERS. (1.) Boil the rice in water, or steam it; let it be as dry as possible; then take the remains of cod, haddock, or plaice, place in a stewpan, barely cover with milk, add a piece of butter of the size of a small egg, pepper, salt, and a dessert-spoonful of flour mixed in a little water; add a tea-spoonful of curry powder. Stew for ten minutes; place the rice round the dish and the fish within it. Cost: rice 1d., fish 6d., seasoning sufficient for four, 21d. Fish and Potatoes. -Boil and mash three pounds of potatoes; mix with them a pound of cold fish of any kind, and an ounce of butter; season with pepper and salt, divide into cakes, bake. Cost: fish 8d., potatoes 4d. ; sufficient for four, 23d. each. Butcher's meat and vegetables.—Make into hotch-potch; two turnips 1d., two carrots 1d., green peas 6d., breast of mutton or veal, 1lb. at 8d. ; cut the turnip and carrot small, and the meat into pieces; stew altogether for two hours; season with pepper and salt; sufficient for four, 4d. each. Stew rice in water for two hours; when it has become dry, beat up two eggs for each half pound of rice, add an ounce of butter, a little grated nutmeg, and two ounces of brown sugar; stir into the rice and bake for half-an-hour. Rice 1d., eggs 2d., butter 1d., sugar id.; sufficient for four; cost per head, 14d. Price of meat, 9d. to 1s. 2d. per lb. ; of bread, 7d. per quartern loaf; of bacon, 10d. per lb. (2.) A sheep's head can only be boiled. Cut off the skin, open the head down the middle of the face, soak it in salt and water for two hours, having previously broken up the bony plates of the nose and removed the eyes; wash well, take out the brains and tie them in a piece of muslin; to three quarts of water add a good-sized turnip cut very small, a carrot, an onion, a teacupful of Scotch barley, and the brains, boil these with the head for two hours; serve the broth separately; beat up the brains with chopped parsley, pepper, and salt, and serve them with the head. Cost: head, 1s., carrot. turnip, and barley, 3d., 3lbs. of potatoes, 3d.; 1s. 3d. each. May be baked whole over a good quantity of potatoes, which absorb the fat. Or it may be cut up, and with potatoes made into potato pie. To 4lbs. of potatoes cut in halves and packed in a large pie dish add pepperand salt, the meat cut in pieces, and a pint and a half of water; bake for two hours in a brisk oven. Breast of mutton may also be stewed with turnips, carrots, and green peas, to make hotch potch. Cost of meat, 1s. 6d. for 2lbs., peas, 6d., turnips and carrots, 2d.; cost per head, 24d. With potatoes, meat, 1s. 6d., potatoes, 4d.; 1s. 10d. Cost per head, 3d. Pig's feet contain much gelatine; they should be stewed in a closely covered vessel in water sufficient to cover them, till the bones fall apart quite clean; then remove the bones; add to one set of feet a pound of pork cuttings in very small pieces; season with pepper and salt, stew for another hour, pour into a mould or basin, and let it stand till cold, when it will turn out a firm jelly, and will be found to be excellent brawn. Feet 8d., pork 10d. Cost per head, 6d. SECTION IV. (Sickness.) 1. What prudential measures may be adopted with children in case of severe colds, sore throat, eruptive illnesses, whooping cough? What remedy would you apply to a broken chilblain, a severe cut, a bad bruise? 2. What immediate treatment should be followed under the following circumstances: (a) A girl faints away in school. (b) A boy shows sudden symptoms of suffering from a fit. ANSWERS. (1) (A very long answer. Will require careful management as to space. Prudential measures. Treatment when symptoms first appear, before medical advice necessary.) For a Severe Cold.-Raise the temperature of the body by means of hot drinks, as gruel, wine, whey, or milk posset, and maintain the temperature by keeping the patient in a warm bed. Encourage the action of the skin by a hot bath; test the heat by plunging in the elbow rather than the hand, and let the patient remain in the bath up to the neck for ten minutes. Should a hot bath not be attainable, let the patient sit, wrapped in a blanket, with feet and legs nearly up to the knees in hot water for ten minutes, then go into a warm bed and take a hot drink. For Sore Throat.-Put the feet and legs in hot water for ten minutes, apply a hot bran or linseed poultice to the throat, and if this does not relieve it, a mustard plaster, followed immediately by a linseed poultice. Keep the patient in a warm bed, administer a mild aperient and frequent warm drinks, as milk, port wine negus, and beef tea. Keep up the strength with nourishing, but not solid, food. Eruptive illnesses require a knowledge of their preliminary symptoms. Their favourable termination depends upon the skin throwing out the disease. The greatest care should therefore be taken to encourage the action of that organ by keeping it warm, and to prevent any chill, which generally checks its action. Keep the patient in a warm bed. Give milk, sago, tapioca, or arrowroot only, and when there is much fever administer a mild aperient. The chief eruptive illnesses are smallpox, chickenpox, measles and scarlatina. For Whooping Cough.-Keep the patient in the open air whenever the weather is fine, and give small doses of tartar emetic or ipecacuanha wine. After six weeks change of air will cause the disease to disappear. A Broken Chilblain.-Apply spermaceti ointment spread on a piece of scorched linen rag. Be careful not to let the stocking touch the chilblain. A Severe Cut.-If from a fall, wash the wound to remove sand or grit; then hold the edges close together with one hand, and place strips of sticking plaster across in the direction contrary to the cut. A Bad Bruise.-Apply hot fomentations and hot poultices as frequently as possible. (2.) When a girl faints, carry her into the open air, place her in a slightly reclining position on a bench or chairs, loose all coverings from the neck and chest, dash cold water on the face, chest, and palms of the hands. With a newspaper or large piece of cardboard produce a draught on the face by fanning vigorously. Apply a strong smelling bottle to the nose. Give a good draught of cold water when the movements of breathing begin. If the fainting continues long, wash the forehead with eau de Cologne, and while quite wet blow vigorously upon it to produce a shock of cold; then administer twelve drops of sal-volatile in a wine-glass of water. Fits. If accompanied by convulsive jerkings and foaming at the mouth, the fit is generally epileptic. Place the patient on his back, loose the clothing, and if necessary hold the limbs tightly; place a piece of india-rubber between the teeth to prevent biting of the lips, exclude the light from the eyes by means of a dark cloth, dash cold water on the chest and face, and use all the means prescribed for fainting. When a child is apparently drowned.-Remove the wet clothing without delay, lay the body face upwards on a shutter or sofa in a slightly reclining posture, with a hard bolster under the shoulders. Two persons should rub the limbs and body vigorously to restore heat, while one tries to produce the action of the lungs. This is done by tying down the tongue with an elastic band to allow free passage of air; then, taking the arms by the wrists, lift them above the head till they meet; then taking them by the elbows and pressing them against the sides of the chest, which operation should be repeated till the chest heaves naturally, blowing into the nostrils while the arms are raised by means of a quill. When the movements of breathing are seen, hot bricks should be applied to the armpits and feet, strong smelling salts to the nose, and cold water should be dashed on the chest. When the power of swallowing returns give hot brandy and water, strong coffee, or whatever stimulating drink can be obtained; then place the patient in a warm bed among hot blankets. A warm bath is an excellent remedy if it can be obtained without any delay. SECTION V. (Clothing and Washing). 1. Explain the benefit of flannel and other woollen material for clothing; and describe the method by which such material should be washed. 2. State the different materials required for washing, and the use of such materials; would any difference be made in the use of these materials when washing coloured print dresses, knitted worsted stockings, and flannel shirts ? ANSWERS. (1) (This answer is altogether of a different character from the first of Section IV., and allows space for some explanation of theory.) Flannel or woollen materials are especially suitable for variable, damp, or cold climates, because they are poor heat conductors. It is necessary that the temperature of the body should not fall below 98°. This it would quickly do when the temperature of the atmosphere is below 98°, for the warmth of the body would by radiation pass from it into the colder atmosphere. Food makes the necessary 98° of heat, clothing prevents its escape, and woollen clothing has the greatest power to do this, for the heat from the body passes through it very slowly. It is like a barrier between the cold atmosphere and the warm body. For the same reason woollen prevents sudden chill on the skin, for between the woollen clothing and the skin a layer of warm air is always retained. In variable climates like that of the British Isles, woollen clothing is a necessity for the protection of the skin from chill; a draught of cold air, suddenly touching that organ, would close its pores and cause its delicate blood vessels to shrivel up; the blood in them would rush into the vessels of the internal organs and cause inflammation. The closing of the pores would prevent the escape of the superabundant heat and produce feverishness. Woollen materials, when of good quality, are very durable; though their first cost is great they are cheap in the end, as they can be washed or died, and they are not spoilt by rain or damp. To wash flannel, prepare the water by dissolving soap in boiling water in the proportion of half-a-pound to three gallons. When this is cool enough for the hand to rest in it, the flannel must be lifted up and down in it till cleansed. It must then be squeezed, thrown into clean lukewarm water, well rinsed, again squeezed, well shaken to raise the pile, and hung in the open air to dry. To wash woollen dresses, prepare the water as for washing flannels, and add to it a pint of oxgall or two ounces of ammonia. Rinse well. Squeeze as dry as possible and dry in a good breeze if possible. (2.) The chief materials used in washing are soap, soda, pearlash, washing powders, ammonia, oxgall, blue, and sometimes alum and salt, the two last being useful in the rinsing water when coloured garments are washed, for fixing and brightening the colours. Soap is a mixture of fat (generally tallow) with some strong alkaline substance, as soda. The fat loosens the dirt, and the soda prevents the fat from settling in the fabric. The loosening power of fat may be seen by applying butter to a spot of tar; the tar combines with it, and may then be easily removed. Soap must not be rubbed upon worsted stockings or flannel garments, it requires to be dissolved in the water in which such things are washed. Soda and pearlash are useful in removing grease; they are strong alkalines. Ammonia and oxgall are also alkaline, and are used chiefly in washing coloured woollen garments. Soda and pearlash should not be used in washing flannels, woollen stockings, and coloured prints. Washing powders are generally com |