122 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



six minutes and the minimum ihree hours and 

 ten minutes. 



The Commission continued the experiments 

 with decreasing doses of cobra-poison hypoder- 

 mically injected; at last with the following re- 

 sult, when only |th of a grain of the poison was 

 injected. It took four hours and two minutes 

 until artificial respiration was resorted to. In 

 four minutes more, in the absence of this sys- 

 tem, this animal's heart would have ceased to 

 beat and somatic death been complete. But by 

 its steady application, life was extended to forty- 

 one hours and fifty-two minutes. 



And the Commission thus sum up the result of 

 the trial of artificial respiration : — " The power 

 of artificial respiration in supporting the respira- 

 tory process ; in maintaining the action of the 

 heart, and the circulation of the blood to all 

 parts of the body ; in effecting the arterializa- 

 tion of the blood ; in sustaining the life of the 

 secreting and excreting organs, and that of the 

 organic system of nerves; and in, probably, 

 keeping up an imperfect form of nutrition of the 

 tissues to which arterialized blood is supplied in 

 abundance, for periods of time varying, to a 



