Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-11-24
BREATH IN DEAD MEN
STARTLING RESULTS OF A NEW JeR.
sev DOCTORS EXPERIMENTS.

ne Has Made . simple Apparatus WITH
Which the Lnngs May he Pat to Work
After They Have Once stopped-It Il Nee
Patented and Any One Can Make Il.
DR.. Edwin De Baum Of Passaic, n. J.,
makes the announcement regarding the
time honored statement that man has |
died from lack of breath-that If breath |
was all he needed he should have lived.
Considering that air is the most plen- !
t'ful resource of nature. having. as polit- |
zeal economists would say, no value be-
cause of its abundance, one would think |
that DR.. De Baun had made no particu-
lar discovery. But there is more in his
statement than is apparent at first.
From time immemorial physicians
have directed their ingenuity toward an
effective application of this wealth OF
air, but without satisfactory results.
Cases of suspended animation come un-
der their notice every day. Men are
rescued from the water after hard bat
tie with the waves. their lungs filled with
water, the iife's action suspended. In
the majority Of instances restoration Of
animation cannot be effected. The lungs
may be emptied Of the water; the life
| giving air, 20 abundant. is at hand-and
! il it could only be forced into the organs
| and respiration started life could be re-
| newed. Physicians efforts to solve the
problem have been unceasing. but says
DR.. DE Baum. INSTRUCTED.
When a man is rescued from the wa
ter, the first thing done is TO empty the
lungs of water by rolling him on bar
rel or lifting him from the ground head
downward. Then he is laid on his
lungs and q ryhthmic contraction and
expansion of the chest walls effected by
alternate pressure and relaxation. Some
times the forcing process has been kept
up for hours with ultimate success, but
considering the possibilities recognized
in artificial respiration the results have
been far from encouraging.
DR.. De Baum has worked on an entire
~ new line. and the result of his expert
ments and observation is method OF
internal respiration, which, lie claims,
cannot possibly fail. His attention was
first directed to the subject by a case Of
suspended animation in a newly born
child. 1t has been the practice in such
cases to force air into the lungs of the
infant by breathing into its mouth and
then contracting the lungs by pressure
upon the chest. But this has been found
not only intensely disagreeable, but high
ly inefficient.
DR.. DE Baum decided to try new ex
pedient. He passed small rubber tub'
through the nose of the infant and dow
into the throat. Closing the mouth, h
forced air through the tube from rub
L her bag, initiating the lungs; thea, releas
i ing the pressure from the mouth. found
J. as expected, that the elasticity of tn
muscles of the chest caused immediat
contraction of the lungs, forming a com
30 plete respiration. This was kept up 70
I As minutes, when natural respiration
n had been restored, and life had beel
saved Since then DIR. DE- Baum has per
l. fected this hastily improvised apparatu
and finds that animation may be ofte
ID restored within 10 minutes.
4 The apparatus is as simple as it is il
cenious. 1t consists of long rubbe
tube, near one end Of which is piece c
soft rubber with which TO cover tn
M mouth and nose. At the other end AZ
two rubber bulbs. After the tube Ina
W been inserted between the teeth. and tn
10 mouth and nose covered slightly, IL
lower bulb is compressed, forcing a
into the second bulb, which acts as re
=, ervoir. This second bulb is much MOI
} elastic than the other and maintains
5. steady pressure of air through the tub
1t is covered with loose netting. whiC
- acts rs sort of safety valve again
overpressure The tube is fitted with
stopcock that may be used 10 lend for,
to the first few respirations.
A few compressions of the lower bu
- are sufficient to fill the lungs. Then Il
- pressure on nose and mouth is relaxe
and the lungs are emptied by the M
ural elasticity of the muscles of &
chest This elasticity remains even al
er death. and with this instrument 1t
quite possible TO make dead IN;
breathe regularly as long as the apple
6 ton continues. In some of the docto
experiments on dead bodies this sim
lation of life has been absolutely st;
,. Ting.
ID. 1t is no: for dead men, however, til
= the ''insufiiator," as it is called, has be
devised, but for men who have be
brought apparently to deaths door
asphyxiation from gas and water. In
latter case the lungs must first be en-
tied. The apparatus weighs but a f
ounces. It is not patented, as DR..
Baum is a strict observer Of medical e
les, which declare that the discover
> of physician belong to the world.
is treasurer of the state board Of medi
examiners of New Jersey and has
vented several valuable surgical inst
meuts and devices.-New York Worl
The Agricultural Profession.