536 OF RESPIRATION. 



ports life for many months, with a respiration sufficiently low to produce speedy 

 asphyxia if it were in a state of activity. And among Mammalia and Birds, 

 there are many species which are adapted, by peculiarities of conformation, to 

 sustain a deprivation of air for much more than the average period. 1 Excluding 

 these, it may be stated as a general fact, that, if a warm-blooded animal in a 

 state of activity be deprived of respiratory power, its muscular movements (with 

 the exception of the contraction of the heart) will cease within five minutes, 

 often within three; and that the circulation generally fails within ten minutes. 

 Many persons, however, are capable of sustaining a deprivation of air for two, 

 three, or even four minutes, 3 without insensibility or any other injury; but this 

 power, which seems possessed to the greatest degree by the divers of Ceylon, 

 can only be acquired by habit. The period during which remedial means may 

 be successful in restoring the activity of the vital and animal functions, is not, 

 however, restricted to this. There is one well-authenticated case, in which re- 

 covery took place after a continuous submersion of fifteen minutes; 3 and many 

 others are on record, of the revival of drowned persons after an interval of half 

 an hour, or even more; but, there is not the same certainty in regard to these, 

 that the individuals may not have occasionally risen to the surface and taken 

 breath there. It is not improbable, however, that in some of these cases a state 

 of Syncope had come on at the moment of immersion, through the influence of 

 fear or other mental emotion, concussion of the brain, &c. ; so that, when the 

 circulation was thus enfeebled, the deprivation of air would not have the same 

 injurious effect, as when this function was in full activity. The case would 

 then closely resemble that of a hybernating animal; for, in both instances, the 

 being might be said to live very slowly, and would therefore not require the 

 usual amount of respiration. The condition of the stillborn infant is in some 

 respects the same; and reanimation has been successfully attempted, when 

 nearly half an hour had intervened between birth and the employment of re- 

 suscitating means, and when probably a much longer time had elapsed from the 

 period of the suspension of the circulation. 



575. It has now been sufficiently proved, both by experiment and by patho- 



1 Thus, the Cetacea contain far more blood in their vessels, than do any other Mam- 

 malia ; and these vessels are so arranged, that both arteries and veins are in connection 

 with large reservoirs or diverticula. The reservoirs belonging to the former are usually 

 full ; but when the Whale remains long under water, the blood which they ccfntain is gra- 

 dually introduced into the circulation, and, after becoming venous, accumulates in the 

 reservoirs connected with the venous system. By means of this provision, the Whale can 

 remain under water for more than an hour. 



2 Dr. Hutchinson states, that any man of ordinary "vital capacity," can pass two 

 minutes without breathing, if he first makes five or six forcible inspirations and expira- 

 tions, so as to cleanse the lungs of the old air, and then fills his chest as completely as he 

 can. " For the first 15 seconds a giddiness will be experienced; but when this leaves us, 

 we do not feel the slightest inconvenience for want of air." (See "Cyclop, of Anat. and 

 Phys.," vol. iv. p. 1066.) 



3 The following are the facts of this case, as narrated by Marc (Manuel d'Autopsie 

 Cadaverique Medico-L6gale," p. 165) on the authority of Prater. A woman convicted of 

 infanticide was condemned to die by drowning. This punishment was formerly inflicted 

 in Germany, according to the now obsolete Caroline law, the culprit being inclosed in a 

 sack with a cock and a cat, and sunk to the bottom of the water. In this instance, the 

 woman, after having been submerged for a quarter of an hour, was drawn up, and sponta- 

 neously recovered her senses. She stated that she had become insensible at the moment 

 of her submersion ; a circumstance which adds considerable weight to the supposition, 

 based upon the post-mortem, appearances in many cases of drowning, that death often takes 

 place as much by Syncope (or primary failure of the heart's action, consequent upon sud- 

 den and violent emotion, or upon physical shock) as by Asphyxia. If the reality of this 

 state of Syncopal Asphyxia be admitted, there does not seem any adequate reason for 

 limiting the possible persistence of vitality in a submerged body, even to half an hour ; 

 especially if the temperature of the water be such as not to cause any rapid abstraction of 

 its heat. 



