ty Maen, ‘ 
os aes 
250 Resuscitation from apparent death by drowning. 
Art. Vi.—Resuscitation by Oxygen Gas, from apparent 
death by drowning. 
Letter I. 
TO THE EDITOR, 
Cambridge, Md. March 31, 1829. 
Dear Sir—At the close of my chemical amusements of 
this winter, an accident occurred, which gave rise to an ex- 
eriment, whose result deserves, I think, to be classed among 
the subjects of your invaluable Journal; it is one, upon the 
efficacy of oxygen Gas, in an extreme case of Asphyxia. 
A favorite young beagle hound had fallen into a neigh- 
bor’s cellar, full of water, and was drowned; how long he 
lay there, (which is a prominent point in the case,) can be 
only conjectured, from the following facts; he was heard 
flouncing and yelping in the water; and the family believ- 
ing he was a mad dog, did not venture in, to his relief, until 
their negro man returned from a ride of two miles, on which 
be had been sent, shortly before the accident; when they 
supposed he had. got out, as he had been long silent; but on 
searching, he found him lying dead under the water, and 
dragged him out; finding it was my dog, he informed m 
servant, who obtained a wheel barrow, and brought him 
home, and then went in quest of me; when I arrived, with 
some gentlemen, who accompanied me, to witness the ex- 
periment, which I proposed,—we found the dog’s body and 
limbs, so cold, hard and inflexible, that, taking him by the 
was turned over, as a block with four pegs attached 
to it 
Having at hand some jars of gases, and fortunately, one of 
oxygen, which I had recently prepared for a similar experi- 
ment, with smaller animals, to be placed under asphyxia, 
om carbonic acid gas, but not having executed my design, 
; I filled a large bladder with the oxygen, not diluted with any 
portion of nitrogen, because I wished to produce the great- 
est possible excitement, in a case so desperate ; I attached 
to the bladder, a small brass stop-cock, with a long beak, and 
infused into his lungs, by a violent pressure of the bladder, @ 
copious dose of the gas; upon which, he instantly made a 
convulsive and solitary yelp, to the full pitch of his usual and 
