Sleeping Under the Clothes.
By Miss Nightingale
THERE is reason to believe that not a few of the apparently unaccountable cases of scrofula among children proceed from the habit of sleeping with the head under the bed clothes, and so inhaling air already breathed, which is further contaminated by exhalations from the skin. Patients are sometimes given to a similar habit; and it often happens that the bed clothes are so disposed that the patient must necessarily breathe air more or less contaminated by exhalations from the skin. A good nurse will be careful to attend to this. It is an important part, so to speak, of ventilation. It may be worth while to remark that when there is any danger of bed-sores, a blanket should never be placed under the patient. It retains dampness and acts like a poultice. Never use anything but light Whitney blankets as bed covering for the sick. The heavy impervious, cotton counterpane is bad, for the very reason that it keeps the emanations from the sick person, while the blanket allows them to pass through. Weak persons are invariably distressed by a great weight of bed clothes, which often prevents their getting any sound sleep whatever.— Miss Nightingale.