The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-12-22
SURGICAL SKILL.
ONE OF THE LATEST Dis
coVERlEs IN REsUsCITATIoN.
Life Can ne Returned 60 Eloctrocuted
Men-the Time 20 DO It, Says DR.
Cunningham, IL Instantly After the
End OF the shock.

Cunningham, IL Instantly After h
End OF the shook.
Or. Richard II. Cunningham, who
for years has studied the effects Of
electric shock on men and animals,
believes I'm electrocution. He does not
believe. however, that the condemned
man becomes unconscious the instant
the man at the switch applies the cur
cent. 81 have had as patients" he
says, electricians who have received
severe shocks in power-house acci-
dents. 1 have talked with men who
have come in contact with live wires
out of doors, 1 have examined the
bodies Of persons who have met death
by electricity, some by accident,
some through sentence OF the court,
and IN the university laboratory l
have made many experiments on ami
mails alive, but under the influence Of
ether. OF course, too, I have~kept up
with the literature on the subject Of
the effects Of electricity N man and
beast. These things have been part
Of my regular daily work for years,
and I believe that the majority Of per-
son who have died from electric shock
could have been resuscitated had the
proper means beer at hand before the
effects Of the shock were v / have
had these means in the laboratory
when experimenting on unconscious
animals. / have had them with a
corps Of trained assistants ready to
begin the work Of resusci.ation at the
exact second necessary. 1 do not say
that all this could be part of al m
bulance OF drug store outfit, however,
/ state what science can do with a we'll
equipped laboratory and men practiced
In handling such equipment. With
out study and experiment n cannot
learn just how electricity kills a a
1 might go to a thousand electrocu-
lions, all Of them done thoroughly
with the best possible appliances, and
not get any scientific information as
to just what killed any one Of the
condemned e I should not doubt
that the men were dead, for I believe
that electrocutions are effective and
the least evil way Of inAicting CAPT
tai punishment, but unless l could at
tach the proper physiological appara-
tus to the person before he received
the current, so that 1 could record and
obtain a graphical register Of the phe-
nomena that occur during and after
the passage Of the current, I should
not gain valuable information.
Il believe those who come to death
through electricity know when the
current enters the body, and are con-
scious Of it for a distinctly recogniz-
able space Of time. They have time
to think about it, in fact, for a man
can do a lot of thinking in a fifth of a
second. OF course, l did not learn
this from the animals 1 experimental
on, because they we're unconscious
some time before the experiment began
as we'll as during it. / have learned
4N-theeeashly-tTa and, edES
Gated electricians who come to
me for treatment, and from such tes-
timony that other electricians have
read in papers before various scientific
societies. There is a thorough reali-
cation Of the fact that the current is
'on'-that it is going through the
body. All who have experienced a
strong shock agree in this.
zone cannot say with anything like
certainty the amount Of electricity
that went through the body of any Of
these electricians, because 1t is hard to
say how the contact was. 1t was acct
dental. In a perfect contact the cleo
trodes are against the skin, and the
skin is moistened with salt water. A
man with a dry skin does not receive
electricity as easily as a man whose
skin is damp. Then clothing may have
interviewed which would have a ten
dency to refuse a current.
"In the laboratory. with everything
in absolute readiness for ~Fesuscita-
ton, we make an incision in the side
of the animals neck, open a vein and
an artery and insert tubes, side by
side, down into the heart. Into the
artery we force blood just like what
"oulu NC III the amman naturally. be-
sides this we add, in place Of the
hbrim, a solution of salt in warm wa
ter. Sometimes 1t takes an hour OF
two Of pumping in and pumping out,
but at length the heart beats regular
ly and the lungs work naturally once
more. The mt thing could probably
be done with a human being. II one
had the proper fluid to work in his
veins and arteries"