The Omaha guide., 1935-02-02
BRING DEAD TO LIFE WITH
LATE DEVICES
One Stimulates Heart, Another Re-
stores Breathing.

oA LAC6At AAtOAltCE NJ
stores Breathing.
New York.-Nearly 500 persons
apparently dead have been brought
back to life in New York and Chicago
BY two Of the scientific instruments
recently developed by physicians.
/: Many of these 500 were quite lit
orally dead by ordinary tests-a
few of them newborn babies whose
bodies had been laid aside with the
last hope given up.
The 500 were restored not only to
life but to health. They are the an
swer of organized medicine to spec
tacular ideas of reviving dogs, sui
cides and executed criminals. They
are the practical application of the
same knowledge which is being used
for the more sensational experiments.
The immediate objective is an an
nual companS of American dead"
about equaling the number of auto
mobile fatalities. 1t is believed that
as many as $4,000 in this group could
be saved yearly if the new devices
reached them soon enough.
Gold Needle Saves.
There is no progress yet toward re-
storing to life the person who has died
Of a wasting disease-nor any wish
by physicians to attempt it.
About 200 Of those brought back
to life here and in Chicago were
treated with the artificial pacemak-
er, a gold needle which stimulates
heart beats with electrical impulses
at the rate of 80 to 12O a minute.
This needle was brought out two
years ago by the Witkin foundation
of Beth David hospital, New York
aity. 1t grew out of the fact that up
to 1880 about so persons, apparently
dead, had been brought back to life
by hypodermlc injections directly in
to their hearts.
Adrenalin was frequently used,
but ever a shot of caffein similarly
given, restored some Of the dead
This all called attention to a mighty
effort which nature herself makes in
every heart, in the first 90 seconds
after it stops, to get it to resume beat
ing.
The heart quickly loses alkalinity,
and its acidity rises. With rising
acfdicv the heart becomes a better
conductor Of electricity, its own nat
ural control is partly electrical. with
exceedingly faint chemical-electric
currents.
Gives Electric Shock
The prick Of a needle, without any
hypodermic at all, is an electric
shock to a heart in this condition.
Realization brought the protection Of
the artificial pacemaker' to supply
electric impulses.
~ Udo AOulIu dlSO IHdL LuS IledIL
has an electrical pacemaker of its
own, a small group Of cells in the
right a~uricle, which seem to regulate
the beat of the entire heart muscle.
The gold electrical needle is used to
substitute for these pacemaking cells.
Use of the needle tip there, instead
Of haphazardly about the heart, ap-
peared to be frequently the direct
source of recovery of life and perma-
nent health.
The other new device for restoring
the dead is an insufflator, sponsored
by the society for the prevention of
asphy0ial death. 1t is a pressure ap-
paratus for mechanical breathing,
which goes a step farther than the
mechanical lungs the equipment of
emergency squads and artificial res
~pirat.on.
Installation forces oxygen and car
bon dioxide into the lungs. Moreover
it mixes them when necessary in pro-
portions to stimulate as well as give
the ordinary effects of air.