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FAINTING FITS.

When a person has been so long exposed to the cold thatall appearances of life are gone, it will be necessary to rubhim all over with snow or cold water ; or, what will answerbetter, if it can be obtained, to immerse him in a bath of thevery coldest water. There is the greatest encouragement topersist in the use of these means, as we are assured that per-sons who had remained in the snow, or had been exposed tothe freezing air during five or six successive days, and whohad discovered no marks of life for several hours, have never-theless been revived.

I have always thought that the whitlows, kibes, chilblains,and other inflammations of the extremities, which are so com-mon amongst the peasants of this country in the cold season,were chiefly occasioned by their sudden transitions from coldto heat. After they have been exposed to an extreme degreeof cold, they immediately apply their hands and feet to thefire, or, if they have occasion, plunge them into warm water,by which means, if a mortification does not happen, an inflam-mation seldom fails to ensue. Most of the ill consequencesfrom this quarter might be easily avoided bv only observingthe precautions mentioned above.

OTHER CASES WHICH REQUIRE IMME-DIATE ASSISTANCE.

Strong and healthy persons, who abound with blood, areoften seized with sudden fainting fits, after violent exercise,drinking freely of warm or strong liquors, exposure to greatheat, intense application to study, or the like.

In such cases the patient should be made to smell to somevinegar. His temples, forehead, and wrists ought at the sametime to be bathed with vinegar mixed with an equal quantityof warm water ; and two or three spoonfuls of vinegar, withfour or five times as much water, may, if he can swallow, bepoured into his mouth.

If the fainting' proves obstinate, or degenerates into a syn-cope, that is, an abolition of feeling and understanding, thepatient must be bled. After the bleeding, a clyster will beproper, and then he should be kept easy and quiet, only giv-ing him every half hour a cup or two of an infusion of anymild vegetable, with the addition of a little sugar and vinegar.

When swoonings which arise from this cause occur fre-quently in the same person, he should, in order to escape