EARTHQUAKE PSYCHOLOGY

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15995, 8 December 1923, Page 8

EARTHQUAKE PSYCHOLOGY

What is the effect on men’s minds of earthquakes? asks a writer in the Weekly Scotsman. When these appalling visitations come at long intervals like bolts from the blue they produce a very frenzy of terror; the whole community subject to the shock becomes hysterical, and men and women lose their reason for a space. But though, as in Japan after the convulsion of 1891, when nearly 10,000 lives were lost, the mental excitement leads to spinal and other nervous disorders, the sense of relief which supervenes when the terror has passed tends to obliterate the impression which it has made. The survivors laugh and joke, and catch at trifles, in order to banish the dreadful nightmare. Such, was the case at San Francisco. Themistocles prayed for a talent of forgetting; but the majority of mankind have the faculty in a highly developed -degree. Were it otherwise, brooding would lead to madness and life on this globe would be well nigh insupportable. The long series of shocks and disasters culminating in the recent terrible holocaust has had a great effect @n the mental and moral character of the Japanese. Light hearted as they are by nature, the ever recurring catastrophes to which they are subject have developed a stoicism and contempt for death of quite the old Roman type.

The body should be oiled all over with warm oil and then wrapped in cotton-wool, which may be carried up over the head; but a knitted woollen hood, lined with two thicknesses of butter-muslin, is more convenient and comfortable. The baby should be re-oi'led every other day, and each time the napkin is changed the buttocks and adjacent parts should be oiled. Instead of the ordinary napkin of Turkish -towelling, it is much better to use a pad of teased-out woodwool, enveloped in a few thicknesses of surgical gauze, held in place by a napkin of soft butter-muslin. After a few days, or at the end of a week or more, it is generally desirable to replace the cotton-wool with ordinary clothing, as being easier to. change and more comfortable, and as allowing the baby greater freedom movement.

Extreme care must be taken not to waste heat and exhaust the child while changing and dressing. The room and the garments should be well warmed beforehand, and the changing must be done expeditiously. Dawdling at any stage robs the baby , v .f heat, saps its strength and resistive power, and makes it very liable to catch infective colds —the bane of prematures. Further, all such checks tend to prevent gain in weight, however well the feeding may be done. ■ Premature babies should be handled as little as possible; but they need turning from side to side regularly, at intervals of from four to six hours, to prevent congestion of the lungs.

Temperature of the Room for Prematures.—For the newly-born premature baby the temperature of the room should be between 65deg and 70 deg Fahr. This should be gradually lowered to between 60deg and 65deg as the condition of the child permits. The warmth of the room must not be kept up at the expense of freshness, as is so frequently the case. Warm, moist, muggy air is, of course, very enervating; but the air should not be unduly dry—about two-thirds saturated is best. Further remarks on the temperature of the room are given at the end >of this section. Temperature of the Cradle. —Three hot-water bags (in flannel covers) filled alternately one each hour, should be placed one at each side underneath the outer blanket, and the thii;d between the chaff shakedown and the -mattress towards the foot end of the cradle.

The temperature ,of the water in the sidebags at the time of should be 160 deg Fahr., and that of the foot-bag 180 deg Fahr. This should maintain a “cradle heat” of 85deg to 95deg Fahr, as ascertained by means of a dairy thermometer placed between the blanket and the baby’s clothing and midway between the side-bags, and kept there. Gradually lower the artificial heat supply as the baby’s own internal fires and powers of heat regulation improve. Temperature of the Baby.—lf the rectal temperature is taken every four hours, and later every eight hours, undue fluctuation can be prevented by regulating the cradle heat. Range of Body Temperature.—Few prematures survive If their rectal temperature is allowed to fall appreciably. below 95deg Fahr. Little apparent harm is done by a rise of the baby’s temperature to 105 deg Fahr., but there is no excuse for allowing such overheating to take place. A fairly constant temperature of 98deg to 99deg Fahr. (with an extreme range of 97deg to lOOdeg Fahr.) is the ideal, and this can be ensured by reasonable vigilance. No greater fluctuation# should take place, especially no fall below 97deg. Fahr. The wider the range the greater the strain ,on the organism.