An inquiry into the phenomena attending death by drowning and the means of promoting resuscitation in the apparently drowned : report of a committee appointed by the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society.

  • Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An inquiry into the phenomena attending death by drowning and the means of promoting resuscitation in the apparently drowned : report of a committee appointed by the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    44/132 (page 38)
    without effect. Samples of blood taken immediately before and immediately after the immersion gave the following results : Before immersion. After immersion. Red corpuscles per c.mm. 6,600,000 . 5,950,000 Haemoglobin per cent. . 102 . 94 Post-mortem (made immediately after death).—The trachea not being tied, the lungs collapse on opening the thorax; they have a normal appearance and crepitation. The larger bronchi are full of froth, which is absent from the smaller ones, and is more apparent in the left than in the right lung. Pieces of the lungs show the follomng specific gravities :—Lowermost lobe of left lung, 0*648; uppermost lobe of left lung, 0'428 ; lowermost lobe of right lung, 0'614 ; uppermost lobe of right lung, 0555. The heart contains comparatively little blood, but the I'ight cavities have some frothy clot of bright colour, doubtless due to the peroxide of hydrogen which had been injected during the attempts at resuscitation. The ab- dominal organs are all congested. There is no blood in the peritoneal cavity. E,^oeriment XXII (Plate XIII). Fox terrier, male, weight 9-544 kilos. Anesthetic, ether and chloroform. Cannula in femoral and stetho- graph round chest; no tube in trachea. [a] The animal, being in a condition of only light antesthesia, was immersed in a bath of warm water during 1 min. 40 sees. The immersion was accompanied by con- vulsive movements, followed, as asphyxia supervened, by gradual quiescence with ultimate cessation of respiration and heart-beat, and fall of blood-pressure nearly to zero. During the first part of the immersion the heart was strongly and entirely inhibited during periods of short duration. After removal from the bath at the end of the time stated the animal recovered spontaneously, the blood- pressure rapidly rising to a point much higher than before the immersion. (Tracing not reproduced.)