D R O 



11(1 



D R O 



Drowning. 



whole ralley between Drontlu'im nml Ttor.iiK in con- 

 stant activity. An immense nuiiiltcr ol' horses i- em- 



r ployed between the two places. In winter, the cop|x-r 



u brought down over tlic snow in long rows of sledges, 

 which carry back provisions and other necessaries. It 

 is a remarkable circumstance that the cows are princi- 

 pally fed on the dung of horses. Sometimes it is Ixu'l- 

 ed in large kettles, and when mixed with a little meal, 

 it becomes a fattening mess for cows, pigs, sheep, geese, 

 hens and ducks, and even hones. 



There are only a few manufactures in Drontheim. 

 M. Lysholm, the commander of the town, has establish- 

 ed a manufactory for preparing colours from the Nor- 

 wegian lichens, which are collected by a number of 

 boors in Opdalen. This gentleman also possesses a 

 manufactory of saltpetre, and another for obtaining 

 white kitchen and table salt from impure sea salt. In 

 the house of correction, cloth, linen and carpets are ma- 

 nufactured. 



In the year 1786, 48 large silver pieces, some of 

 which were round, some square, and some triangular, 

 were found in Drontheim. In 1789. a copper trunk 

 was discovered, containing several coins of Frederick 

 III. In 1805, 32 silver coins of Eric of I'omerania 

 were found ; and at a still laterperiod, ancient silver coins. 

 and four or five urns of a rare metal, were discovered 

 in a sand bank. Most of these pieces of antiquity have 

 been depootod in the M useum at Copenhagen. In the 

 neighbourhood of Drontheim, there arc many elegant 

 country houses. Several are pleasantly situated along 

 the shore of the bay, on the road to Houan, towards 

 the Fiord, and on the slope of the hills. The popu- 

 lation of Drontheim in 17b'9, was 7478; in 1799, 8000; 

 and in 1806, 8340. The position of this town, accord- 

 ing to astronomical observation, is in F.. Long. I 

 25", and X. Lat. 63" 25' 50". See Catteau's Tableau 

 Jet Etats Danoit, passim ; and Von Buch's Travels 

 through Aomwy and Isjplaml, during tfic years 1 806, 

 1807, and 1808, translated by John Black, chap. v. 

 London, 1813. () 



l)i:<>r>Y. Sec \U-nici\E Index. 

 DROSKRA, a genus of plants of the class Pentan- 

 dria, and order 1'entagynia. See BOTANY, p. 169. 



DH( ) \V\I\G, is the extinction of life, in consequence 

 of immersion in a fluid. It is now well known, that no 

 animal can live without a communication with atmo- 

 spheric air. Even fishes require a supply of it ; for if 

 the vessel of water in which they are kept be closely 

 stopped, death immediately ensues. It has been like- 

 wise ascertained, that atmospheric air serves the same 

 purposes in all animals ; or, in other words, undergoes 

 the same chances, in order to fit it for their use. These 

 changes arc cll'ccted by means of respiratory organs, 

 with which every animal is in one shape or other fur- 

 nished. Atmospheric air consists of three substances, 

 azote or nitrogen, oxygen, and carbonic acid. 



AD animals Animals accustomed to live in air perish very soon, 

 *"' when their respiratory organs are immersed in water ; 

 and the more perfect or complicated these respiratory 

 organs arc, the sooner, in general, is life extinguished 

 ich immersion. Man is capable of existing with- 

 out breathing only for a very little time; and hence is 

 Boon destroyed when detained beneath the surface ol' 

 the water. Most people begin to drown before they 

 have been lialf a minute below it. But it is certain, 

 that those accustomed to dive can continue a great deal 



Ptil fib- longer in this .'tale. 1'earl fishers are aflirmed to re- 

 main with impunity several minutes beneath the water. 

 It i said, that sonic of those about Cape Coinorin, in 



the East Indies, will keep Ix-lnw the surface for fifteen 

 minutes, or even double that time. But this is proba- 

 bly an exaggeration. 



It i< still unknown to us on what the principle of 

 life actually depends ; and hence we find it often ap- 

 parently ln-t, without it-- being really so. This h.,* 

 been denominated suspriulftt animation, or apparent 

 death. The term siis/M-iiilctl animation, however. ha 

 been objected to by Dr Goodwyn, a* conveying a tal-e 

 notion, li-ading mankind to In-lieve that they arc capa- 

 ble of re-animating, or resuscitating, a I ili when 

 in fact they do no more tlmn cure a disea-c. ( )f ani- 

 mal bcxlies," says he, " there arc only two general con- 

 ditions life and death ; and since by death we under- 

 stand the privation of life, there can be no intermediate 

 state between them. Of the Ixxly, in this disease, (he 

 means apparent drowning,) we can say with propriety 

 only, that it is alive, or that it is dead. If it were really 

 dead, it would necessarily follow that the means which 

 are employed to recover it must be supposed to com- 

 municate life to dead matter, which is impossible. The 

 body therefore is alive, but with a degree of life less 

 perfect than in the ordinary state of health ; and since 

 a difference in degree does not occasion an alteration in 

 kind, the body must still retain that principle which is 

 the immediate cause of all the functions that are per- 

 formed in health, only it is not now excited to action ; 

 because the external concomitant circumstances which 

 operated upon it in health are removed. These exter- 

 nal circumstances are heat and respiration." 



A certain test of death has long been, and still is, a 

 desideratum in medical science. All are now agreed 

 that the most complete cessation of every vital, natu- 

 ral, and animal function, is no sure pnx>f that th. 

 son is absolutely dead. But it has been commonly 

 thought that putrefaction is a certain test of this state. 

 Mr Kite, however, has gone far to shew, that even this 

 may be fallacious. A .surer 1 indication of death, he 

 thinks, can be drawn from the contraction of the pu- 

 pils of the eves ; from one of these being more con- 

 tracted than the other ; from a total loss of heat, and, 

 in the case of drowned persons, from the presence of 

 water in the lungs. It is his opinion, that in drowning, 

 the epiglottis completely shuts the passage to the 1 

 till relaxation has taken place after absolute death. No 

 appearance of water in the lungs was evr shewn by 

 any of the successful cases of the Humane Society, and 

 Mr Kite immersed a kitten in a strong decoction of 

 logwood, under a glass receiver, and kept it there for 

 15 or 20 minutes after all motion had ceased. He then 

 removed it into clear water, and let it remain for a con- 

 siderable time. On opening it, the lungs were filled 

 with water, but there wa- no appearance of the colour- 

 ing matter; a proof, he says, that the water did not 

 enter the windpipe for at least 15 minutes after appa- 

 rent death had taken place. The entire loss of irrita- 

 bility, or of the power of contracting in the muscular 

 fibre, on the application of the proper stimuli, seems to 

 constitute the true distinction betwixt real and apparent 

 death. 



It seems to depend a good deal on circumstance? that 

 have not been accurately ascertained, how long anima- 

 tion may be suspended without being irrecoverably 

 lost ; or how long a person may remain in the state of 

 apparent death, and yet recover. Instances are on re- 

 cord of some that have continued apimrently dead for 

 hours, nay for days, and have yet been restored to life ; 

 but no instance, well autheDtieatcd. we believe, can be 

 produced of any person luiving recovered who had been 



Drowning. 



l.iu- ami 



tn.il . 



death. 



How Ion 

 apparent 



continue. 



