Variations between 98 degrees and 99 degrees are not necessarily significant of disease. A reliable clinical thermometer should be used.
Temperature is generally taken in the mouth. Insert the bulb of the thermometer well under the boy"s tongue. Tell him to close his lips, not his teeth, and to breathe through his nose. Leave it in the mouth about three or four minutes. Remove, and, after noting temperature, rinse it in cold water, dry it with a clean, towel, and shake the mercury down to 95 degrees. It will then be ready for use next time. Never return a thermometer to its case unwashed.
Pain
Pain is an indication that there is something wrong with the body that should receive attention. Some boys are more sensitive to pain than others, particularly boys of a highly strung, delicate, nervous nature.
Most people, however, think too much of their pains. Most pains to which boys fall heir are due to trouble in the stomach or intestines, or to fevers. Many pains that boys feel mean very little. They are often due to a sore or strained muscle or nerve. A hot application or ma.s.sage will often bring relief.
Sharply localized pain, except as the result of external injury, is not common among healthy boys, and, if found, particularly in the well-known appendix area, and if accompanied by other disquieting signs (temperature, pulse, etc.), should receive medical attention.
In a general way, any abdominal pain that does not yield in 24 hours to rest in bed with application of external heat, should call for the advice of a physician. Any severe attack of vomiting or diarrhea, accompanied by temperature, and not immediately traceable to some indiscretion in diet, is cause for study, and if improvement does not soon show itself, a physician should be called.
Pains in the extremities, particularly joints, if not clearly showing signs of improvement in two or three days, should also be the object of a physician"s visit, as a fracture near a joint, if not correctly treated early, may result in permanent deformity.
The camp physician, or director, if he himself a.s.sumes the medical responsibilities, should enforce the rule that all boys who do not have a daily movement of the bowels see him, and he should always be ready to receive such cases and give them the necessary treatment.
The drawings by Albert G. Wegener ill.u.s.trate in a general way what the trouble is when one feels a distinct, persistent pain.
Among healthy boys, in camp, thoracic pains, other than those due to muscular strain, are uncommon, but when severe, especially if accompanied by a rise of temperature (over 99.5 degrees) and not readily succ.u.mbing to rest in bed, should be investigated by a physician.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Sites of Pain.]
PAIN
The accompanying diagrams indicate what ailment may be looked for if there is a persistent pain. (Adapted from Butler; Diagnosis.)
1. Disease of bone. Tumor or abscess in chest. Weakening of the aorta.
Stomach trouble.
2. Catarrh [1], or cancer or ulcer of stomach. Disease of spinal column.
Inflammation of pancreas.
3. Lack of blood. Neuralgia of rib nerves. Pneumonia. Enlarged glands.
Disease of chest wall. Disease of back-bone. Shingles.
4. Liver disease. Weakness of abdominal aorta. Heart disease.
5. Disease of diaphragm or large intestines.
6. Heart disease. Large intestines. Locomotor ataxia [2].
7. Pleurisy. Violent vomiting. Coughing.
8. Colic. Gravel. Movable kidney. Enlarged spleen. Dyspepsia. Lack of blood. Debility.
9. Sharp abdominal pains indicate the following: Ulcer or cancer of stomach Disease of intestines. Lead colic. a.r.s.enic or mercury poisoning.
Floating kidney. Gas in intestines. Clogged intestines. Appendicitis.
Inflammation of bowels. Rheumatism of bowels. Hernia. Locomotor ataxia [2]. Pneumonia. Diabetes.
10. Neuralgia. Clogged intestines. Abdominal tumor. Kidney colic. Tumor or abscess of thigh bone. Appendicitis if pain is in right leg.
11. Lack of blood. Hysteria. Epilepsy. Disease of bladder. Nervous breakdown.
12. Foreign substance in ear. Bad teeth. Eye strain. Disease of Jaw bone.
Ulcer of tongue.
13. Nervous breakdown. Epilepsy. Tumor or break in brain. Cranial neuralgia. Disease of neck bones. Adenoids. Ear disease. Eye strain. Bad teeth.
14. Spinal trouble.
15. Disease of stomach. Weakening of aorta.
16. Hand and arm pains indicate: Heart disease. Enlarged spleen. Clogged large intestines.
17. Nervous breakdown.
18. Eye strain. Disease of nasal cavity. Lack of blood. Dyspepsia.
Constipation. Rheumatism of scalp. Nervous breakdown.
19. Bad teeth. Ear inflammation. Cancer of upper Jaw. Neuralgia of Jaw nerve.
20. Bad teeth. Neuralgia of Jaw nerve.
21. Clogged large intestines. Ulcer of stomach.
22. Lumbago. Neuralgia. Debility. Fatigue. Weakness of abdominal aorta.
23. Girdle sensation indicates disease or injury of spinal cord.
24. Disease of t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. Excessive s.e.x abuse. Ulcer or cancer r.e.c.t.u.m.
Piles. Disease of hip-joint. Neuralgia. Sciatica.
25. Kidney disease. Neuralgia.
26. Intestines clogged. Cancer or ulcer of r.e.c.t.u.m. Locomotor ataxia.
Abscess in back. Sciatica (if in one leg only).
27. Cramps due to over exercise. Diabetes. Hysteria.
[Transcriber"s Footnote 1: Catarrh: Inflammation of mucous membranes in nose and throat.]
[Transcriber"s Footnote 2: Ataxia: Loss of coordinated muscular movement.]
Typhoid Fever
The epidemic chiefly to be feared in summer camps is typhoid fever, and boys coming from cities where that disease is prevalent should be carefully watched. Care in sanitation minimizes the likelihood of such a disease springing up in the camp. Other infections, such as mumps, conjunctivitis, etc., should be carefully isolated, and all precautions taken to prevent their spread.
A fairly common event may be toward evening to find a boy with a headache and a temperature perhaps of 102 degrees. This will probably be all right in the morning after a night"s rest and perhaps the administration also of a cathartic.
The Dentist