Influence ox American Physiology. 



33 



accidents of various sorts. His general paper in the Medical 

 Record for 191 7 giving a history and critical analysis of the methods 

 of resuscitation is an interesting and valuable contribution. He 

 gives experimental data to prove that his device of intratracheal 

 insufflation is the most efficient method of artificial respiration 

 both for man and animals. But he realized that it is a method 

 which requires special knowledge and training for its successful 

 execution, and his broadening acquaintance with and interest in 

 the practical aspects of resuscitation led him to experiment with 

 the less efficient and less safe method of pharyngeal insufflation. 

 He was a member of the three national commissions on resuscita- 

 tion and served as chairman of the third commission. In connec- 

 tion with the duties of this service he devised a simple portable form 

 of apparatus for pharyngeal insufflation which can be used with 

 very little previous instruction and he demonstrated, with entire 

 success I believe, that this form of apparatus is much more efficient 

 than any of the so-called manual methods of resuscitation, or 

 than any of the special machines for this purpose, pulmotors 

 and lungmotors, which have been exploited commercially during 

 the past few years. It was, I imagine, a sore disappointment to 

 him that he was not able to convince his colleagues on the third 

 commission that this apparatus met all the requirements for in- 

 dustrial and military use. It is probably the simplest and best 

 instrument yet devised for artificial respiration as applied to man, 

 and in institutions or industrial establishments where the need for 

 artificial respiration may arise frequently and where special in- 

 dividuals may be instructed in its use it can be employed to great 

 advantage. But it does require some little amount of training to 

 use it properly — the average uninstructed man or woman can not 

 be trusted to apply it intelligently, and for this reason the com- 

 mission felt that it was wise to urge adoption of a manual method 

 as the form of first aid which may be applied most successfully 

 under ordinary conditions. 



While the researches that I have attempted to summarize repre- 

 sent his most important contribution to physiological science, Dr. 

 Meltzer kept in close touch with the progress in almost all branches 

 of experimental medicine. He gave evidence of this interest in 

 the publication of occasional papers on various topics or in articles 



