Part 36 (1/2)
541. _The method of resuscitating persons apparently drowned._ In the first instance, it is necessary to press the chest, suddenly and forcibly, downward and backward, and instantly discontinue the pressure. Repeat this without intermission, until a pair of bellows can be procured. When the bellows are obtained, introduce the nozzle well upon the base of the tongue, and surround the mouth and nose with a towel or handkerchief, to close them. Let another person press upon the projecting part of the neck, called ”Adam's apple,” while air is introduced into the lungs through the bellows. Then press upon the chest, to force the air from the lungs, to imitate natural breathing.
(Appendix M.)
539. Give the first method for the treatment of cold. 540. The second method. 541, 542. How should persons apparently drowned be treated?
542. Continue the use of the bellows, and forcing the air out of the chest, for an hour at least, unless signs of natural breathing come on. Wrap the body in warm, dry blankets, and place it near the fire, to preserve the natural warmth, as well as to impart artificial heat.
Every thing, however, is secondary to filling the lungs with air.
Avoid all friction until breathing is restored. Send immediately for medical aid.
543. _The means of resuscitating persons asphyxiated from electricity, &c._ In apparent death from electricity, (lightning,) the person is frequently asphyxiated from _pa-raly-sis_ (palsy) of the respiratory muscles. To recover such persons, resort to artificial respiration. In cases of apparent death from hanging or strangling, the knot should be untied or cut immediately; then use artificial respiration, or breathing, as directed in apparent death from drowning.
_Observation._ It is an impression, in many sections of the country, that the law will not allow the removal of the cord from the neck of a body found suspended, unless the coroner be present. It is therefore proper to say, that no such delay is necessary, and that no time should be lost in attempting to resuscitate the strangled person.
544. _The method of resuscitating persons apparently dead from inhaling carbonic acid gas._ When life is apparently extinct from breathing carbonic acid gas, the person should be carried into the open air. The head and shoulders should be slightly elevated; the face and chest should be sponged or sprinkled with cold water, or cold vinegar and water, while the limbs are wrapped in dry, warm blankets.
In this, as in asphyxia from other causes, immediately resort to artificial respiration.
543. What treatment should be adopted in asphyxia from electricity?
From hanging? 544. What should be the treatment in asphyxia from inhaling carbonic acid gas?
_Observations._ 1st. Many persons have died from breathing carbonic acid that was formed by burning charcoal in an open pan or portable furnace, for the purpose of warming their, sleeping-rooms. This is not only produced by burning charcoal, but is evolved from the live coals of a wood fire; and being heavier than air, it settles on the floor of the room; and, if there is no open door or chimney-draught, it will acc.u.mulate, and, rising above the head of an individual, will cause asphyxia or death.
2d. In resuscitating persons apparently dead from causes already mentioned, if a pair of bellows cannot be procured immediately, let their lungs be inflated by air expelled from the lungs of some person present. To have the expired air as pure as possible, the person should quickly inflate his lungs, and instantly expel the air into those of the asphyxiated person. _Place the patient in pure air, admit attendants only into the apartment, and send for a physician without delay._
What sad results frequently follow the burning of charcoal in a closed room? What suggestion in resuscitating asphyxiated persons?
CHAPTER XXVII.
ANIMAL HEAT.
545. The true sources of animal heat, or calorification, are still imperfectly known. No hypothesis has, as yet, received the concurrent a.s.sent of physiologists. We see certain phenomena, but the ultimate causes are hidden from our view. Its regular production, to a certain degree, is essential both to animal and vegetable life.
546. There is a tendency between bodies of different temperature to an equilibrium of heat. Thus, if we touch or approach a hot body, the heat, or caloric pa.s.ses from that body to our organs of feeling, and gives the sensation of heat. On the contrary, when we touch a cold body, the heat pa.s.ses from the hand to that body, and causes a sensation of cold.
547. The greater number of animals appear cold when we touch them; and, indeed, the temperature of their bodies is not much above that of the atmosphere, and changes with it. In man, and other animals that approach him in their organization, it is otherwise. They have the faculty of producing a sufficient quant.i.ty of caloric to maintain their temperatures nearly at the same degree, under all atmospheric changes, and keep themselves warm.