FREQUENCY AND CHARACTER OF RESPIRATORY MOVEMENTS 483 



at times be reactivated by the prompt institution of artificial respira- 

 tion, massage of the abdominal viscera and central blood-vessels, 

 elevation of the posterior extremities, injections of adrenalin and other 

 measures. 



In animal experimentation artificial respiration meets with prac- 

 tically no difficulties, although its use upon human beings must neces- 

 sarily remain restricted to the most favorable cases. Thus, it can- 

 not yield beneficial results if the respiratory abeyance possesses a per- 

 manent pathological cause. Still, it cannot be doubted that it deserves 

 a much wider application than is accorded it at the present time, 

 when it is employed, and not always in a very scientific and efiicient 

 manner, in cases of drowning, asphyxiation by poisonous gases, and 

 suspended animation from electrical shocks or pressure upon nerve 



Fig. 250. — Shows the Position to be Adopted for Effecting Artificial Respiration 

 IN Cases of Drowning. (Schaefer.) 



centers. Whatever the method employed, and whether in animals or 

 man, artificial respiration must always be practised in closest imitation 

 of the normal rate and depth of the respiratory movements. Too 

 vivid a ventilation is almost as injurious as a subnormal one. Before 

 the attempt is made to distend the lungs, the respiratory passage must 

 be cleared of all obstructions, such as mucus and water. The mouth 

 must be opened widely and the tongue drawn out so as to prevent its 

 tip from becoming lodged behind the fauces. All tight clothing must 

 be removed. 



In imitating the normal expansion of the lungs, Sylvester proceeds 

 as follows: The patient is placed on his back, with the head and 

 shoulders supported upon a firm cushion somewhat above the level 

 of the feet. The operator places himself at the patient's head, grasps 

 the arms just above the elbows and draws them upward above the 

 head. Having kept them in this position for two seconds, they are then 

 pressed gently but firmly against the sides of the chest during an equal 

 period of time. Galliano retains the arms in Sylvester's position, 

 so that the thorax remains in the expanded condition continuously. 

 Her then presses at intervals of three seconds with the flat hands 



