3GO Dr. Richardson on the possibility of [June 15, 



existence again by gentle friction of air. We have learned hy an experi- 

 ment, first thoroughly demonstrated before the Royal Society in the early 

 days of its remarkable history, that when the animal fire is waning, owing 

 to deficiency of fuel, that is to say, of blood, it may be revivified by the 

 direct introduction of new blood. Lastly, we have learned that the natural 

 or spontaneous combustion of blood is due to the affinity of the oxygen of 

 the air for combustible substance in the blood, when such substance is pre- 

 sented to the air over a sufficient extent of surface. 



These observations may be received as demonstrable truths ; and to them 

 may be added an inference which amounts nearly to a demonstration, 

 though all its elements have not yet been estimated that the motion of the 

 animal (the action of its mechanical parts) is produced by the force evolved 

 in the process of combustion. 



The experiments submitted in this paper have reference to the best means 

 to be adopted for fanning into active life the animal fire that is expiring 

 but is not suspended. But they extend also to the deeper questions, 

 whether animal combustion cannot be reestablished when it appears to 

 have been extinguished ? and whether so-called vital acts would not be 

 spontaneously manifested upon such reestablishment of animal combustion ? 



In the part of this paper which contains the details of experimental 

 research, the experiments are classified in three series. 



The first series of experiments has reference to attempts made to pro- 

 duce combustion of blood in the lungs by the introduction of air Artificial 

 Respiration. 



The second series embraces experiments in which attempts were made to 

 induce circulation of the blood by physical operations Artificial Circu- 

 lation. 



The third series supplies the records of experiments in which the effects 

 of an increased temperature upon the body were observed. 



FIRST SERIES OP EXPERIMENTS. Artificial Respiration. 



Effects of simple inflation of the lungs with air. The first series of ex- 

 periments, those in which artificial respiration was employed, exhibits, I 

 believe faithfully, the precise value of artificial respiration. In the preli- 

 minary inquiries, the animals, having ceased to breathe, were immediately 

 subjected to artificial inflation by means of double-acting bellows. The 

 result in every case was, that whenever the action of the heart had come to 

 rest, the temperature of the air employed being at various degrees, from 

 40 to even 120 Fahr., no reaction followed the inflation. 



In opening the bodies of animals thus treated, the lungs were invariably 

 found empty of blood, and in a large number of cases emphysematous, 

 while the right side of the heart was filled with fluid blood. 



The heart continues to beat when artificial respiration restores. In one 

 striking experiment, where respiration had entirely ceased and no action of 

 the heart could be detected from pulsation, a recovery took place in a dog. 



