The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-06-08
THE APPARENTLY DROWNED.


1t is disquieting to be told that many
persons. apparently drowned, still die
when they could have been saved by
the application of proper methods. says
the Literary Digest. Artificial respira-
ton is the favorite mode of treatment
at present. OF the many methods de-
vised, at least four are now in COM
mon use; but how many persons know
how to apply any of them properly and
persistently? The London Lancet, in
an editorial review of a recent lecture
before the Royal College of Surgeons by
DR.. Arthur Keith, expresses the opin-
ion that a machine will yet be used for
this purpose. Most of the earlier meth
DDS of resuscitation, DIR. Keith tells US.
are now disused. We read:
Practically all the methods advised
by the society in its early years have
been discarded and condemned since;
for the thought can not fail to arise
that our most cherished modern meth
DDS may in their turn be rejected by
those that come after US. Stimulants
to the nose and skin, bleeding, emetics,
and the fumigation of the large intes-
tine with tobacco smoke, all these were
| looked upon as valuable methods of re-
viving the drowned, but now they are
| unknown. Warmth and friction of the
skin still survive and are of definite
value. and especially useful is warmth.
| The only method of artificial respira-
ton that was then known was direct
! imitation from the operators mouth,
and though this was discarded later by
the society, many recoveries were as
cribed to it's use, and it is probably by
| no means useless.
I'm cases of drowning it is now ac-
knowledged that water does not enter
the lungs, though until quite recently
| this fact was denied. In one case a dog
| in drowning received into it's lungs
more than 700 cubic centimeters of wa
| ter: and one part of the problem of
resuscitation is the removal of this Wa
| ter from the lungs. Some of it is alb
sorbed from the lungs. for if an animal
is drowned in water stained with a pig
ment the coloring matter can be traced
into the pulmonary lymphatics. The
| disturbance of the circulation is as inn
portant as the disturbance of the respi-
ration; when it begins to fail, the right
heart is distcnded and the abdominal
viscera are engorged with blood
"Dr Keith thinks that artificial res
| piration, however carefully performed
/ is not likely to be successful in more
than one in twenty or thirty of the
| cases but as it can not be said before
| hand which is the exceptional case,
| artificial respiration should be perform
ed with the utmost care in all. Appeals
| to the statistics at present available
| are vain. Successful cases are much
more likely to be put on record than
red. but if we may judge by statistics
every method has shown large
amount of success.
| I'VE can not look upon the results of
artificial respiration at the present time
as satisfactory. Many cases do, indeed,
recover, but it is probable that many
| die who might have survived had suit
| able treatment been adopted. We do
| not deny the great progress that has
| been made in the resuscitation of the
Iasphyxiated and we recognize the enor-
| nous amount of care which has been
expended in these researches, but we
feel that there is much more to be
done. 1t is possible that the impulsion
/ and extraction of air by means of a
machine. provided that care is taken to
see that it is not used to excess. may
yet replace other methods when the
mechanism is at hand, for a machine
is tireless and thorough, and less room
lis left for want of knowledge"
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