Manual of British Rural Sports by Stonehenge 17th Edition

650 GENERAL TRAINING OF MAN. thelatter, is to throwthe injured muscles " out of gear," to use an engineer's term, and thus enable other muscles to do their work,and to some extent that peculiar to theinjured ones, which they could not otherwisedo without calling upon thelatter to actat the sametime. As a counter-irritant nothing is better thuu a mixture ofturpentine, ammonia, and soap liniment, in equal proportions. The bandage requires some skill for its proper application, but not neces­ sarily thehandof a surgeon. It isgene­ rally only at the seat of injury, and very often an india-rubber band will act better than any unyielding bandage, however wellapplied. SPRAINOFTENDONOR JOINT .—When a tendon or joint is sprained, moretime is generally required for repair than in the case of a muscle, as the vitality of these parts is low. If recent, cold applications, suchas vinegar and water with theaddition of some spirit, is the best remedy. When the heat conse­ quent on the injury ceases, apply the embrocation recommendedfor strained muscle, and in a few days have the joint strappedup with brown soap plas­ ter. These injuries, however, are gene­ rally so severe as to necessitate a sur­ geon. In chronic cases there is nothing like pumping onthe part once or twice a day, for a longer or shorter time, according tothe case. CORNS AND BUNIONS . — Blisters are troublesome enough to the pedestrian, but corns area thousand times worse. The former are only temporary evils, whilst thelatter are a perpetual cause of discomfort andmisery. Corns are of two kinds, hardand soft; and this dis­ tinction is not only dependent upon situation, as some people imagine, for the essence and even the cause of a soft com arentirely different and dis­ tinct from those producing the hard variety. The soft cornoccurs only be­ tween the toes,and partakes moreof a warty character than of that of the true corn. There is really agrowth of the cutis ortrue skin, which shoots up some little sprouts covered with a cheesy matter, and these become ex­ quisitely painful if pressed upon by the adjoining toe. On the other hand, the true or hard corn is simply an effort of nature to protect a part unduly pressed upon ; but the effort is carried to an inordinate extent. It is an over secretion or formation of cuticle, which, as it becomes thicker and harder, is again pressed into the indamed cutis by the shoe, and thus, by acting as a foreign body,aggravates the mischief, and causes it also toreact on itself; by increasing the alreadyinordinate secre­ tion of cuticle. Thus these causes act and react on each other, till you often find a deep process or processes of hardened cuticle driven into the skin, forming what are often called by the corn-cutter the root or roots of the corn. But it must be understood that these do not grow first, but are the last results of a very obstinate and long-standing mischief. In all cases the corn has, first of all, no root what­ ever ;its growth is not from within outwards, but from without inwards; and the term"root" thereforeis mis­ applied. Many tricks are played upon the credulous patients of the corn- cutter, by passing off pieces of quill, or nail, or horn, as extracted from the corn, and often a fee is charged for each root removed. I have known thirty-six guineas charged for as many " roots " extracted at one sitting, and paid too, for an operation which has afforded only present relief. Bunions are different in appearance and character from either hard or soft corns ; theyareoften caused bypressure, but iu them the skin is not the seat of the inflammation, but the synovia# bag on the inner side of the ball of the great toe, or sometimes on theouter side of the middle of the foot, or onthe instep. In all cases they aresoft, pulpy, hag­ like projections, often, though not always, withouthardness or roughness of skin. They are attended with groat pain and tenderness, and cause con­ siderable lameness. Softcornsshould be treated as follows: —With the nailpick off as muchof the cheesy matter as can be removed; then, if the next day can be given up,apply a piece of lunar caustic to the surface, rubbing it pretty wellin, but avoiding contact with the adjoining skin. After this keep apiece of carded cotton be­ tween the toes night and day, and it will be found that after twenty -four hours' rest all painwill have disappeared, the surface will have lostits moisture, and will have became hard, black, and dry. If the cotton is renewed daily this state of ease will be maintained for a week or ten days ;but tnen it is necessary to pick off the blackened