The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-11-08
RESUSCITATION BY HEAT
a SOVEREIGN REMEDY FOR USE M
SUSPENDED ANIMATION cAsEC.

we NileA ItHu I'll pN9NAN hARAt1aAA ~
be drowned that were soon taken from
the water. but life was extinct, writes
Henry NJ. Dean. of Readsville, in n
letter to the Boston Transcript. If, as
believe, such persons could have
been easily resuscitated had those
present known what to do, such ac-
counts are most distressing.
In 1870 Or. 7. S. Lambert, OF New
York City. made public In little book
n new method of resuscitatlon, which
has received surprisingly little atten-
ton. Or. Lambert unfortunately min
gled with his practical directions
much superhuous theorizing, but the
sensible person can easily understand
his main contention.
His sovereign remedy for suspended
animation caused by strangulation is
the application Of heat to the surface
OF the body. He insists that there is
little or no water in the lungs Of
drowned person, and that autopsy
shows this. He affirms that the epig-
lottis In such cases closes automati-
cally upon the windpipe. Hence, the
first thing to do Is simply to lay the
body for a moment on It's face and let
the water drain from the mouth and
nose. Then turn 1t over and wrap the
whole body, except nose and mouth,
In many cloths, and then pour con-
stantly upon 1t water as hot as ones
hand can bear. Rubbing is needless
or worse.
Some Of DR.. Lambert's remarkable
accounts win make my meaning clear.
THUG, q black boy fifteen years old
fell early one morning into the waters
of the harbor at Havana and was
taken out apparently dead. He was
laid on the roof of a house, a physi-
clan called, and for an hour or more
the usual means of resuscitation were
tried in vain. He was then left on the
roof, exposed to the fierce heat Of a
tropical sun. Five or six hours later
the coffin was ready, and two men
went to the roof to bring the body. but
found the boy alive and very little
worse for his adventure
A man was taken out of the East
River at Forty-fourth street, New
York, who had apparently been under
water for some time. He was laid on
the grass near by under q blazing sum-
mer sun. After several hours the po-
lice took him on n stretcher to the sta
tlon, where it was noticed that his
heart was beating. A brisk rubbing
Of his ears soon restored him to life.
A boy Of thirteen years, living in
Chillicothe, Ohio, rode a horse into q
river, where the horse, stumbling,
threw him into the water. The groom,
who was with the boy, succeeded at
length in getting the boy out in an ap-
parently lifeless condition, but was so
Mortified that he did not obtain help
for fully half an hour. Then the fam
lily physician came, who wrapped the
body in blankets as hot as he could
make them, renewing them constantly.
In fifteen minutes the boy gave a faint
sigh, then a feeble groan, and in ten
minutes more was fully restored to
consciousness.
DR.. Lambert was once a passenger
on q steamer which was leaving
Cleveland for Buffalo. About s o'clock
p. N. a deckhand fell into the water,
and his body was not recovered until
a little after 0 o'clock, and was then
rolled on q barrel, etc, till about 10
o'clock. Then the captain came to DR..
Lambert and asked If anything more
could be done. The doctor remem.
bered some remarkable resuscitatiors
of animals by heat, which he had wit.
messed when a boy, but had then never
experimental with heat upon drowned
human beings. But the captain agreed
with him that 1t could do no harm tC
try. DR.. Lambert swathed the body
in wet sheets and kept them as hot as
his hands could bear. At about II
o'clock he detected a feeble and infre
quent pulse After about five minutes
more there came a gasp, and at length
another. The pulse and breath became
more frequent, and at IL O'Clock the
man was conscious and spoke. Abou
o'clock the man put on his clothes
and walked off to bed The next morn
ing the man, though very cross, was
about his work as usual.
And this treatment has also lEer
found effective with infants that hav,
never breathed and persons strangleC
by hanging.
Dr. Lambert's theory is that thu
cessation of respiration and circulation
is not necessarily death at all, blu
| simnlv nntrrn,s method Of nrase1.uini