Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-18
How to Save the Droxvntns.

It is well just now to make some sugges-
 tions to residents at the seaShore in regard to
 the proper course to be pursued in cases of
 danger by drowning, and, in the first place,
 to offer few words of advice to those who
 may be called on to swim to the aid of per
 sons struggling in the water. It is most i'm
 portant that the drowning person be assured
 m cheery voice that he Is safe, and urged to
 cease struggling, for the more he struggles
 the more water he swallows, and the more
 dangerous 1t Is to attempt rescue. 1t IS
 sheer madness to seize @ man struggling in
 the water, for he will blindly grasp his would
 be rescuer and drag him down but when he
 has become quiet, the swimmer should catch
 him by the halr of the head, turn him quick
 ly on his back giving kim a sudden pull,
 which will cause him to float, and then start
 for the shore, Those who have tried this
 plan say that it is very easy of execution, and
 instances are on record where one man has swan ashore with four persons whose hair
 he grasped and whom he then threw on their backs In case of outsetting tide the rescuer should, however, throw himself up on his back and float until help arrives, for he will soon exhaust himself battling against the current, and it may be said in passing that lone swimmer when caught by the un- dertow will do far better to float than to wear himself out in uninterrupted struggling for the shore. When body has sunk to the bottora, and bubbles indicate that life Is not extinct, 8 person may dive in the direction indicated by the bubbles, but he should seize the hair with one hand only, using the other hand in conjunction with the feet in raising both himself and the drowning person to the surface When the rescued person has been landed the first thing in order is to arouse ! him by wiping his booy dry and by skipping 1 smartly the stomach and chest The jaws should be separated if they are clenched, and kept apart with a cork or a small piece of | wood the person should be turned on his | face and the stomach kneaded as long as water flows from the mouth. Then the
 throat should be wiped with a rolled hand kerchief. and the patient turned on his back | with the pit of the stomach elevated above l the rest of the body. The waist should be
 squeezed with great pressure as if to force | the contents of the chest into the mouth, and I suddenly let go. This process, which Is an | imitation of natural breathing, should be re- peated at momentary intervals, but with reg 1 ularity, until the persons breath IS restored !: 1 but if satisfactory results do not follow after | three or four minutes, the patient should be again turned on his stomach-but in the op- 1 posite direction from before-for the purpose 1 of expelling any water remaining Ill the air | passages Then the artificial respiration 1 should be resumed and continued until the
 patient revives or until death is beyond doubt. The process of drying and rubbing | should be all the while continued, soon after
 the breath returns. These simple rules are
 old, but every one who reads them may this
 very summer have cause to put them in prac- ] tice.