St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-05-05

the entrance of air to the trachea (wind-
pipe) can occur.
Then drawing the arms away from
the sides of the body and upwards, so
as To almost meet over the head, by
means of which the ribs are raised lex
panslon of the chest) by the muscles
(pectoraD running from the arms near
the shoulders. A vacuum is thus Great
ed III the lungs, the air rushes in, if the
tongue Is not in the way, and the blood
then Is purified by the passage of the
impure gases from the blood vessels to
the air.
The arms are now brought down to
the sides, and the elbows made to al
most meet over what is called the .'pit
of the stomach" This produces con-
traction of the walls of the chest. and
expulsion of the impure air from the
lungs.
These two movements, constitute
an act of respiration, and should
he persisted in, without Interrupt
tion, at the rate of about sixteen
to the minute. In other words, each com
plete movement should occupy about
four seconds, which is about the natural
rate of respiration in health.
MARSHALL HALLS READY METHOD.
Place the drowned person fiat on the
face, making gentle pressure with the
hands OH the back remove pressure :;
turn the body ON the side, or ii little
beyond that. The body is then turned
again on the face, gentle pressure again
used to the back, turning again on the
side. The whole body-head. chest
and limbs-should be moved together.
These efforts move the ibis as in nat
ural respiration, vacuum is thereby
formed i'll the lungs, and the air rushes
along the throat to fill the chest About
sixteen complete movements should take
place every minute.
II.-AFTER RETURN OF NATURAL
BREATHING.
During all this time the temperature
of the body should have been kept up
as much as possible, and the surface of
the body and limbs rubbed upward with
the palms of the hands. warm hannels.
etc, so as to propcl the blood along the
veins toward the heart.
Vessels of heated water. heated bricks,
etc, to the pit of the stomach. arm-pits.
between the thighs, and to the solcs of
the feet should also be used.
As soon us sufficiently revived. Il tea
spoonful of brandy. OF twenty drops of
the aromatic spirits of ammonia III IA
tablespoonful of water. may he given
as Il stiHulant as often us thought nee
eSsary. \ little later. some beef tea
will prove useful i'll restoring strength.
Recovery from drowning
t,,1
after an immersion of five or six min
utcs, although there are well authenti-
Gated cases where restoration has taken
place after an immersion of as much as
twenty minutes. The efforts ut artificial
respiration ought To he persisted in un-
til the arrival of Il physican, OF at least
for Il couple of hours.
y space of at least ten feet on every
side should he kept wholly free from
every body, except the one or two in
charge of the operations for relief. If
others are needed for IL moment to assist
III some special duty, as lifting, removal
of dress. etc. they can be speedily Sc
lrcted from the crowd; AND having been
of service, should Immediately retire.
y person iuSt removed from the water
i often seen 81 closely surrounded 10y IL
number of ''rclative>' and personal
tIicnd>" that it is a> difficult for the
phN Siciau To uS. his arms aS it * for the
drowned man tn get Il breath.
The kindcst thing IL hystander can do
Is t" insist upon Il free space. as large ;IS
suggested, and select from the crowd
persons To hold themselves in readiness
To start for whatever phy or indi-
Nidual acting in his absence NAV re
quIlc.
CAUTIONS. 1t is often said of the
person drowned. that he WAS Il good
swimmer. and must have been attacked
with ''crampS. This Is Il SpaSmodic
contraction of the muscles. beyond the
control of the individual. aud occurs at
ter exhaustion of the muscles from over
cNcrtion of various kinds.
Persons suffering from debility. eS-
pccIally debility affecting the nervous
system, should never bc induced to go
hey oud depth in the water. or out of
reach of Immediate assistance. There is
no warning in advance of the seizure.
and the person sinks at once. Many
lives are lost each season. in shallow as
well as deep water, from these seizures.
which could have been avoided had the
hather, just recovering perhaps from an
attack of sickness, or even indi>poSitiOu
not neglected the precautIou stated.
From "4ccidents, Emergencies, und
POisOns."