AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
299 
THOUGHTS AT A CANNON’S MOUTH, 
Under one of the galleries at the Crystal 
Palace is a collection of ancient armor—cold, 
sharp, and shining—that purports to have come 
from the well-known Tower of London. It is 
well worth a half-hour of study, and of moral¬ 
izing. It takes us back to the slashing days of 
“chivalry,” and the Crusades. What sinewy 
fellows they must have been in those olden 
times, to have stood under such a load of metal! 
What prodigious blows might have been given 
by those ferocious battle-axes! What an ugly 
character to meet must have been one of the 
stalwart knights, equipped from top to toe in 
all that flashing steel! Perhaps some of that 
very armor figured at Agin court. Perhaps one 
of those swords may have been weilded on Bos- 
worth-field against the bloody Richard. Per¬ 
haps Queen Elizabeth may have “reviewed” 
some sturdy yeoman when encased in those un¬ 
comfortable suits of iron two centuries and a 
half ago ! Well these formidablle weapons of 
death are all very harmless now, as they hang 
in yonder Palace of Peace; the very spears 
that once dealt havoc on the battle-field are 
now the wonder and perhaps the laughing-stock 
of some “ cute” Yankee who pities the stupidity 
that could not contrive Colt’s revolvers, or Paix- 
han guns, instead of such clumsy killing appa¬ 
ratus as those. 
Close by these ancient weapons of war, stand 
a few modern cannons, with their horrid mouths 
wide open. They, too, are harmless enough up 
there, ranged along-side of washing machines, 
and grain-reapers, and salamander-safes. A 
little child might run its hand into the very 
muzzle of the ten pounders. They are quiet as 
Quakers. 
But as we were looking at these engines of 
destruction, a few days since, our minds wan¬ 
dered off to the scenes of carnage for which they 
were constructed. We fancied ourselves on a 
battle-ground. Artillery was roaring; mus¬ 
ketry was hailing bullets in deadly showers. A 
mighty host was engaged in ferocious conflict. 
Men were fighting around us as if they had 
been enemies from the cradle. A whole army 
of men were driving their baynots through 
other men whom they never saw before, and 
whom, but for the order of a king or a general, 
they might have met in peaceful friendship! 
With shout and shriek, and dying-wail, the 
bloody work goes forward, until the side that is 
weakest (though perhaps morally the strong¬ 
est in being right ) is overwhelmed, and the vic¬ 
torious host rushes forward, trampling the 
wounded and the dying into the earth! 
And this is war! This is what people coolly 
talk about, as if it were a holiday past-time! 
This is what men array themselves in gold and 
plumage for, and go out to with drums beating 
and colors flying! This is what men rejoice 
over in cathedrals, and offer up thanksgiving to 
Him whom they called the “God of Battles!” 
Spirit of the benevolent Jesus! is this the reli¬ 
gion Thou didst come to teach? 
As for myself, whenever I read a high-sound¬ 
ing bulletin of victory, I never can fix my mind 
upon it. It wanders away to that hospital 
where the wounded victims are breathing out 
their lives in agony. It wanders to the cottage 
fireside, where sits the lone widow, mourning, 
like Rachel, and “will not be comforted;” 
where the lisping child asks when his father 
will come back, and is told—what his young 
heart is slow to understand—that some strange 
man met his father on the battle-field, and smote 
him to the earth! 
My mind wanders up to that gathering, so 
sudden, so awful, before the throne of God, 
and I ask myself, When, when will this stupen¬ 
dous system of havoc and of blood be swept 
from the face of indignant earth ? Even, now, 
while the armies of Europe are mustering for 
conflict, shall not all Christians unite their pray¬ 
ers to God that national wrongs may be righted, 
and that the interests of justice and freedom be 
secured without the terrific necessity of war ? 
Let the old arqior rust! Let us try the new 
armor of truth, and justice, and love.—T. L. C., 
in Christian Intelligencer. 
-• • 0- . 
TO RESUSCITATE DROWNDED BODIES. 
To resuscitate drowning persons, it is first ne¬ 
cessary to recover the body from the water before 
it is actually dead. Being in possession of the 
body, the following question presents itself: 
Has the drowning person been submerged 
while emitting the breath, or with the lungs dis¬ 
tended by air? If the lungs be full of air at 
the time of submergence, the chance of success 
is ninety per cent, in its favor. If at the time 
of submergence the lungs be empty of air, (the 
lungs are never entirely empty,) they must col¬ 
lapse, and death is produced instantaneously. 
It is a well-ascertained fact, that no icater ever 
enters the lungs of drowning persons. If there 
be water in the air cells of the lungs or wind¬ 
pipe, the individual may be said,—to use a play 
on the word,—to be emphatically drown-dead, 
(drowned). No water can, by any possibility, 
enter the lungs of drowning persons. Directly 
the water reaches the rim of the windpipe, the 
lid covering its chamber, externally as Adam’s 
apple, causes a spasmodic action of the parts, 
which is an effort of nature to protect their in¬ 
ternal integrity. In drowning, this spasmodic 
contraction imperviously closes the lid (the epi¬ 
glottis) flat upon the ridge of the trachea— 
windpipe, so that nothing can pass into the vital 
breathing channel. The rolling of persons on 
barrels or suspending them by the heels for 
the purpose of “ letting the water run out,” as 
is sometimes done, is a cruel and most absurd 
proceeding. Dissections of drowned persons 
exhibit the right side of the heart and its veins 
distended with venous—or in other words, ir- 
respirable asphyxiating blood—whilst the left 
side of the heart and pulmonary blood vessels, 
are nearly or entirely empty of arterial, or 
vital, or ventilated blood. It is upon this con¬ 
dition—the distention of the right side of the 
heart and its blood-vessels—that Dr. Mott 
makes the distinction when (in his communica¬ 
tions on treating “ drowned” persons) not to use 
external frictions, and therewith, when to excite 
the circulation by this process. I am of opinion 
that Dr. Mott has inadvertently allowed himself 
to fall into the error of the supposed danger of 
forcing (by prematurely exciting the circulation) 
more blood on these distended parts. It must 
be borne in mind that this unnatural and fatal ex¬ 
cess of blood and the consequent distention of 
the right side of the heart and blood vessels, 
and the empty state of the left side and pulmo¬ 
nary vessels, are only found in this state sev¬ 
eral hours after death. Such a state of these 
vitals actually drowned as it were in their own 
blood, alone would produce instant death with¬ 
out the continuance of the presence of the ad¬ 
junct water, the suffocating properties of which 
superinduce the fatal condition of these most 
salient points of the vital citadel. Regarding 
the application of friction, prohibited in the 
first instance, by Dr. Mott, I am of opinion 
that it is of the most vital consequence, because 
the mere act of friction not only conveys a cer¬ 
tain quantity of animal heat into the body, but 
it is also electrical, conveying with it animal 
electricity. As far as my experience extends, 
the friction should be performed slowly with 
direct passes, from the inside of the arm pits 
down to the wrists and palms of the hands. 
The fingers and toes should be stimulated with 
warm hands. The same direct passes should 
be made from the inside of the thighs down to 
the inner ankles. On the outside of the limbs, 
brisk friction may be added. The body should 
be thoroughly dry when friction is applied, 
which should be performed under warm blan¬ 
kets, or any thing else available within reach. 
The body recovered from the water should 
not be left wet, but instantly made dry—because 
water evaporates—evaporation cools the flesh, 
and cold will destroy the little vital warmth re¬ 
maining. Therefore the body should be strip¬ 
ped of the wet clothing, and, if possible, imme¬ 
diately enveloped in dry, warm cloths—woolen 
if practicable. The body should not be placed 
on the “dull cold earth,” because the earth is a 
powerful and quick conductor of heat and cold, 
and if it do not conduct all the heat from the 
body it will by this same action, what is vul¬ 
garly termed “ strike the cold” into the spinal 
marrow, i.e., destroy its vital reaction upon the 
nerves; which negligence, alone, may complete 
what submergence may have left undone. If 
the body must be placed on the earth, if practi¬ 
cable, lay it on dry clothing, boards, or dry 
wood. The body properly placed in a room, 
with attendants ready to manipulate, it should 
be placed on an elastic mattrass, or a canvas 
cot; the shoulders a little raised and resting on 
something soft. At first the head should be on 
a line with the body, the chin a little elevated 
from the line so as to stretch the windpipe. 
Warm plates, or warm bricks, should be placed 
(protected) between the shoulder blades on the 
spine, also to the soles of the feet—the friction 
proceeded with as I have already stated. In 
place of “pressing the chest suddenly and for¬ 
cible downward and backward, and instantly 
discontinue the pressure,” the reverse is neces¬ 
sary to secure a quick success. Because, if the 
lungs be partially or entirely collapsed, they 
will rest or lie against the back, or as it were, 
the floor of the pulmonary chamber, therefore 
pressing down the chest will have no other ac¬ 
tion on the inelastic lungs, than flattening out 
or extending laterally the walls (ribs) of the 
chest. Now let two strong persons, one on 
either side of the body, close his hand firmly, 
and press it with force against and within the 
lower margins of the ribs at either side, and 
both simultaneously press firmly inward and 
upward, and then, suddenly ceasing the pres¬ 
sure, resume their position; the lungs will be 
roused, and what air is in them forced into the 
windpipe, and this air will force up the mucous 
froth clogging the air cells or bronchial tubes. 
The sudden resumption of the parts to their 
physicial natural positions, of course, superin¬ 
duce the action of the laws governing pneuma¬ 
tics upon the cellular elastic tissue of the lungs, 
provided obstruction or death have not already 
destroyed their influence and power. The pres¬ 
sure recommended upon Adam’s apple in the 
throat, whilst a bellows is used to inflate the 
lungs, I also object to. The pressure will not 
overcome the spasmodic contraction of the 
parts. I have tried this experiment in my early 
attempts and I succeeded, only, in filling the 
stomach with air, whilst I am not aware that 
any air entered the air cells or even the bron¬ 
chial tubes of the lungs. The stomach being 
filled with air, materially obstructs the attempts 
to relieve and arrest the action of the lungs 
themselves. I also object to pressure upon the 
projecting part of the wind-pipe (Adam’s ap¬ 
ple) by any other than thorough anatomists. Be¬ 
cause awkward persons, and even ignorant prac¬ 
titioners, would press upon the carotid arteries 
and jugular veins, which would be equally fatal 
to resuscitation as the continuation of the spasm 
upon the windpipe. The respiration, not being 
produced by the first attempts, the second pos¬ 
ition of the head is to raise it according to the 
formation of the neck, from 2 to 3 inches; the 
chin now, is to be slightly depressed upon the- 
chest. This position of thejaw bone will press 
the tongue and windpipe back against the eso¬ 
phagus gullet, and close its passage, whilst it 
will shorten the trachea, or otherwise relieve 
the tension on the windpipe, and by the pecu¬ 
liar pressure of the parts, it will afford the only 
chance now remaining of relieving the epiglot¬ 
tis (lid of the windpipe) from its spasmodic 
closing on the windpipe. This position of the 
jaw bone and soft parts will afford greater facili¬ 
ties for the purpose of injecting air into the 
windpipe, and thence into the lungs. This in- 
