Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-04-22

| &@HM hCAN BoCh " AAACg
says a Washington
correspondent of the st. Louis Globe
Democrat. Heretofore such mechan-
isms have existed only in fiction or
in the visions of those who have craved
for earthly life eternal.
A French physician has patented
such a device in this country. 1t is to
be applied for the purpose Of breath
ing renewed life into bodies which are
liefless, or apparently lifeless. To
use the words Of the inventor, it is an
aerotherapeutical apparatus. A YES
sci into which water is poured is sur
rounded by an air chamber and has
fixed in it an upright tube surmounted
by a globe. In the center OF the tube
Is a vacuum gauge. When the proper
valve Is turned water In the upper
tube moves upward and downward,
producing alternate inhalatlons and
calculations in another tube leading to
the free air. BY suitable mouth or
nasal pieces the latter tube is to be
attached to the body of the subject.
The instrument being attached and
put into operation, the lungs will be
filled with air and emptied at alternate
intervals, corresponding in regularity
with the natural expansion and con-
traction of the chest in normal breath
Ing. Thus the blood may be supplied
with its necessary oxygen, and unless
decomposition has set in life may be
kindled anew.
Still another invention of this class
Is that Of Brooklyn physician. It Is
an alright chamber, suitable in size
for the accommodation Of q mans
body. 1t is connected with an air
rarefier and compressor, the ccntroll-
Ing mechanism Of which is worked by
rotary shaft and crank. 1t is claim
ed that the subject inside may be made
to breathe when the interior at
mosphere is alternately rarefed and
compressed, his lungs, as we'll as the
chamber itself, being filled and then
emptied as the valves are kept work
ing.
Still another invention, that of a
Buffalo man, is bellows and tube, the
latter to be connected with the mouth
and nostrils. The tube before reach
ing the subject passes through small
stove, which heats the air to the
proper temperature.
An odd apparatus which may be in
cluded in this category, is a sort of
corset, patented by a California man,
which while encircllng the chest, may
be made to automatically compress and
let free the muscles Of the thorax,
which control respiration.
The examining board of the life
saving service has been considering the
Of adopting a resuscitating
machine, known as an insuflator, for
reviVing drowned persons. It in
wolves an air pump, nasal and mouth
pieces, and hypodermic apparatus.
Should the future develop improve
ments in the direction toward which
these inventions as we'll as the theories
Of reliable medical specialists are
pointing we may yet see the day when
our friends may be brought back to
life after several deaths and when life
may begun again by an external rather
than an internal force. When this
happy day arrives the physician will
visit the deathbed, resuscitator in
hand, maintaining artificial circulation
and respiration, while at the same
time repairing or replacing the worn
out organs. In these wonderful days
Of scientific achievement there seems
to be no reason why the vital fame,
because once extinguished, cannot be
reignited to once more put the delicate
animal mechanism in motion.
Up to this time physicians have ac-
complished little by attempts at re-
suscitation, except in cases Of cata-
lepsy, syncope, few kinds Of poison
ing, drowning, hanging and other
forms of asphyxia and electrocution
The old-fashioned or direct method
now generally applied in such cases is
to place the patient upon his back and
to compress and expand his chest cav
ity by pressure OF the hands. Renewed
life has been breathed into young chill
dren by what Is known az the mouth
to-mouth Insulation. The operator
places his mouth to that OF the patient,
and by keeping up a systematic pro-
cess of exhalation and inhalation
starts the latter's lungs to working
again.
Physicians now have hopes Of resus-
citatlng a drowned man after life has
been apparently extinguished for an
hour. Man appears to be more FORUM
ate than the dog In this respect.
In the course of experiments some
time ago to determine this degree OF
comparison dogs which had been held
wholly under water for a minute and
a half never recovered and their hearts
stopped beating four minutes after
breathing had ceased. The testimony
OF persons resuscitated after drowning
indicates that such q mode Of death
is not nearly so painful as one might
imagine. A tickling In the throat Is
about the only pain which Is usually
experienced.
Physicians have recently made OBJ