Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31

fiat Death, said the medical examiner, was
due to gas poisoning. Artificial respiration had
been applied in vain. The old woman was taken
to the morgue..
But there seemed to be a spark of life in her
husband The Consolidated Gas Co. owns q
number of Drinker tanks. Apparently there
would never be better chance to test their
worth.
The inert body of the old thrust
in the steel chamber, and the motor turned ON.
Uncannly his chest rose and fell. The heart
action was almost impereeptible. 1t was az
though dead man were drawing deep, regular
breaths For hours and 10 minutes they
induced movement of the chest.
II guess it's no USE" said an attendant.
when the breaths left the body, that's the
end of you. We can pump the pood devil up
and down till kingdom come. If he's quit
breathing, he's gone"
But the doctor bending the patient.
caught his own breath in wonder For the old
man had opened his eyes!
EVERYBODY has heard Of the way doctors
and nurses sometimes slap a newborn
baby to make it breathe. Occasionally they
hold it by the heels and swing it back and
forth Sometimes a smart slap does the trick
But often doctor will put his mouth against
the infants and force his own breath into its
little lungs Babies are often born breathless.
and unless they get their breath very shortly
they die.
Until Drinker designed respiTator for new
born babies, no one had ever dreamed OF trying
to coax a breath for any length Of time. But
Drinker thought If the large tank could make
adults breathe, 1t would be good idea to make
q little bit of q tank and see how it worked
with babies. The principle Is exactly the same
and the results gratifying.
The other day q baby was born In Boston at
the Lying-In Hospital that couldn't be made to
breathe. They slapped It, and swung it. and
breathed IN its mouth. And, when everything
else failed they put it in the Drirker resparator
Hours passed And the child drew q natural
breath! Respiration had been coaxed into be-
ing.
Besides reviving breathlesS babies, Drinkers
apparatus has proved its usefulness in treating
cases OF respiratory failure from drug poisoning
electric shock and attempted suicide from IN
haling carbon monoxide.
The principle is amazingly simple The tank
in which the patient lies is practically air.
tight. The pressure within is alternately raised
and lowered through mechanical control When
the pressure In the tank is lowered the chest
expands and air ruShes into the lungs. When
the pressure Is raised, the air is expelled.
BY means of an electrically operated pump
the atmosphere within the tank is placed alter
nately under positive and negative pressure,
the positive pressure inducing expiration,
and the negative pressure inducing inspiration.
In simpler terms, breathing h produced re-
gardIess Of the will Of the subject. Mega
tive pressure causes the chest to expand and
air to now into the lungs, while positive
pressure congresses the chest and causes the
air to be expelled Thus q movement of the
chest 10 induced which counterfeits the na-
tural breathing movements.
WHEN Drinker first got the notion about ina
ducing artificial respiration he did his ex-
perimenting on cats. There il a substance
called curare that paralyEes the respiration.
making the subject quiescent and fnsensible.
South American Indians used 1t TO poison their
arrows But now science uses it for laboratory
experiments.
Drinker gave his cats an injection of curMre.
and when their breathing was completely sus-
pended. he popped them in his tank and turned
ON the pump. And pretty soon out trey
hOpAed - good 90 newt rt