ASPHYXIA. 573 



tion, contains only one hundredth less of oxygen than atmospheric 

 air. 



As it is important that the air should enter the lungs and not the 

 alimentary canal, an assistant ought to press his hand against the 

 larynx, so as to keep it against the cervical vertebra, and flatten the 

 CESophagus as much as possible. 



1225. We should blow at first very gently. When the lungs are 

 sufficiently filled to lower the diaphragm and raise the sides of the 

 thorax, as is done in a natural inspiration, we must stop, and gently 

 compress the abdomen and breast in imitation of the act of expira- 

 tion. We then begin again in the same manner, and thus establish 

 a sort of artificial respiration, the advantages of which have certainly 

 been exaggerated by some authors: M. Desormeaux has been but 

 imperfectly satisfied with it, and in my hands it has succeeded in 

 but a small number of cases, and (according to the researches of M. 

 Leroy d'EtioUes) it is really dangerous unless managed with very 

 great care. 



In fact, it is not the action of the lungs, but that of the respiratory 

 muscles that ought to be first put in play. But, as the very reverse 

 takes place in inflation, it follows, according to M. Leroy, that the 

 air generally stops in the large branches of the bronchia, and that we 

 can rarely succeed in forcing it into the air-cells, without the risk of 

 producing an emphysema, which of itself is sufficient to occasion the 

 death of the individual. 



The operation of tracheotomy, proposed, in despair of any thing 

 better, by M. Heroldt, as it is very dangerous in itself considered, 

 ofl^ers no advantages superior to simple inflation, and ought to be pro- 

 scribed. 



1226. Electricity and galvanism, which have been recommended 

 under these circumstances by Greve, Behrends, Boer, M. Gardien, 

 &c. might also be of great service either as a principal or accessory 

 cause in the treatment of the asphyxia of new born children. The 

 current should be directed through the breast, or from the mouth to 

 the anus. I must, notwithstanding, confess that I have twice tried it 

 without success, although I made use of a double battery of twenty- 

 one metallic plates, the action of which was very strong. The elec- 

 tro-puncture which was tried by M. Leroy on animals, might per- 

 haps be more efficacious, by permitting it to act directly upon the 

 diaphragm; but, so far as I know, it has never been applied to the 

 human foetus. 



If we are to succeed, the pulsations of the heart and cord re-ap- 

 pear by degrees, the muscles gradually recover their natural firmness, 



