First exclude the air and apply cold. If you are near a running stream of water, plunge the burnt member in it. This is all that is needed in ordinary cases. A good emergency treatment is to make a thick lather of toilet soap, smear it over the burn, and apply a bandage.

A standard remedy is common baking soda (not washing soda*). Dissolve some in as little water as is required to take it up; saturate a cloth with this, and apply, covering the burned area closely, and keep the dressing wet with the solution. Car-bolized vaseline, resinol, unguentine, plain vaseline, or almost any clean and unsalted grease or oil are good applications. Or, make a thin paste of flour and water, smear it on the burned part, and on the cloth used for covering. In lack of anything else, moist clay or earth will do if the skin is unbroken.

If clothing sticks to the burn, do not try to remove it, but cut around and flood with oil or water. Prick blisters on two sides, with a needle sterilized in flame, and remove the water by gentle pressure.

In case of shock, give a stimulant and apply heat to the extremities. When the destroyed flesh of a deep burn softens and begins to slough, hasten its removal by hot applications and cutting the loose ends away with scissors.

'Baking soda is the bicarbonate; washing soda, or plain soda, is the carbonate; do not confuse them.

Rescue From Fire

Tie a wet handkerchief over your nose and mouth. If unable to breathe when erect, crawl with head as low as possible. If the clothing catches fire, lie down and roll over slowly, beating out the fire with the hands or smothering it with earth. When rescuing another person whose clothing is aflame, throw him down and do the same, or wrap him as tightly as possible in a blanket, coat, or the like, leaving only his head out. Woolens do not burn with a flame like cotton and linen.