Drcemsesr 6, 1918] 
Manual Methods——Mr. Eglin read a letter 
from Mr. M. W. Alexander, of the General 
Electrical Co., stating that he hoped the “ com- 
mission would be very definite in reeommend- 
ing the prone-pressure method, as experience 
has proved its value.” 
Mr. C. B. Scott stated that the accident 
prevention committee of the N. E. L. A. had 
reached the point in its investigation where it 
felt that the prone-pressure method was best 
to recommend, bearing in mind that machines 
are not always available in emergencies. His 
own company had had nine successful eases of 
resuscitation by the prone method and three 
unsuccessful cases in which mechanical means 
were used. 
Dr. Schubmehl stated that the prone-pres- 
sure method has been most successfully ap- 
plied by their two hundred and twenty-five 
first-aid men. 
_ Mt. Maclachlan stated that he had the duty 
of training possibly three thousand men in the 
prone method. Their system required the men 
to practise this method at least once a month. 
The men are instructed not to desist in less 
than three and a half hours, and that not till 
then should they listen to advice from a physi- 
cian who might tell the operator that the pa- 
tient was dead. 
The secretary read the following parts of a 
letter from Professor Schafer, of Edinburgh, 
to the chairman: “ The prone method has been 
adopted exclusively for about twelve years by 
the Royal Life Saving Society, the only impor- 
tant organization in the British Empire whose 
object is the resuscitation of the apparently 
drowned. It has also been adopted for several 
years by the London and other Police Force, 
by the Board of Trade, by the Army and the 
Navy.” “The most important thing is in 
cases of drowning to have something ready 
which any man can use; which will effect res- 
piratory exchange—whether exactly as much as 
normal, matters very little.” 
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION 
In the discussion following the presentation of 
methods and evidence to the commission the fol- 
lowing important facts were emphasized: 
SCIENCE 
565 
1. That in most accident cases no resuscitation 
apparatus is at hand for immediate use. 
2. That reliance upon the use of special appa- 
ratus diminishes greatly the tendency to train per- 
sons in the manual methods and discourages the 
prompt and persevering use of such methods. 
3. That police officers or physicians often inter- 
fere with the proper execution of manual methods, 
in that they direct that the patient be removed in 
an ambulance to some hospital, thus interrupting 
the continuance of artificial respiration. 
4, That in many hospitals the members of the 
staff are not all acquainted with the methods of 
artificial respiration. 
5. That in medical schools instruction is not 
properly provided for students in the manual meth- 
ods of artificial respiration. 
In view of these facts the following resolu- 
tions were adopted by the commission: 
1, The prone-pressure or Schiifer method of re- 
suscitation is preferable to any of the other manual 
methods. 
2. Medical schools, hospitals, fire and police de- 
partments, the Army and Navy, first aid associa- 
tions, and industrial establishments in general, 
should be urged to give instruction in the use of 
the prone-pressure method of resuscitation. 
3. Individuals who, from accident or any other 
cause, are in need of artificial respiration, should 
be given manual treatment by the prone-pressure 
method immediately on the spot where they are 
found. It is all important that this aid be rend- 
ered at once. The delay incident to removal to a 
hospital or elsewhere may be fatal, and is justifi- 
able only where there is no one at hand competent 
to give artificial respiration. If complications ex- 
ist or arise, which require hospital treatment, arti- 
ficial respiration should be maintained in transit, 
and after arrival at the hospital, until spontaneous 
respirations begin. 
4, Persons receiving artificial respiration should, 
as much as possible, be kept warm and the artifi- 
cial respiration should be maintained till spon- 
taneous breathing has been permanently restored, 
or as long as signs of life are present. Even in 
eases where there is no sign of returning anima- 
tion, artificial respiration should be kept up for 
an hour or more. 
5. A brief return of spontaneous respiration is 
not a certain indication for terminating the treat- 
ment. Not infrequently the patient after a tempo- 
rary recovery of respiration stops breathing again. 
The patient must be watched and if normal breath- 
