Royal Humane Society's Instructions.

SEND QUICKLY FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.

Cautims.

1. Lose no time.

3. Avoid all rough usage.

3. Never hold up the body by the feet.

4. Nor roll the body on casks.

5. Nor rub the body with salt or spirits.

6. Nor inject tobacco-smoke or infusion of to- bacco.

I. Convey the body carefully, on its face, with the head and shoulders supported in a raised posi- tion, to the nearest house.

II. Strip the body, and rub it dry; then wrap it in hot blankets, and place it in a warm bed in a warm chamber free from smoke.

III. Wipe and cleanse the mouth and nostrils.

IV. lu order to restore the natural heat of the body, More a heated covered warming-pan over the back and spine.

Put bladders or bottles of hot water, or heated bricks, to the pit of the stomach, the arm-pits, between the thighs, and to the soles of the feet.

Foment the body with hot flannels.

Rub the body briskly with the hand; do not, however, suspend the use of the other means at the same time; but, if possible, immerse the body in a warm bath at blood heat, or 100° of the thermometer, as this is preferable to the other means for restoring warmth.

Y. Volatile salts or hartshorn to be passed occasionally to and fro under the nostrils.

Dr. Marshall Buffs Proposed Method.

1. Treat the patient INSTANTLY, ON THE SPOT, a THE OPEN AIR, EXPOSING the face and chest to the BREEZE (except in severe weather).

I. To CLEAR THE THROAT— 2. Place the patient gently on the face, with one WRIST under the forehead; [all fluids and the tongue itself then fall forwards, leaving the entrance into the windpipe FREE.} If there be breathing—wait and WATCH ; if not, or if it FAIL,— II. To EXCITE RESPIRATION— 3. Turn the patient well and INSTANTLY on bin side, and— 4. Excite the nostrils with snuff, or the throat with a feather, &c., and dash cold water on the face, previously rubbed warm.

If there be no success, LOSE NOT A MOMENT, but INSTANTLY— III. To IMITATE RESPIRATIOS— 5. Replace the patient on his face, RAISING and supporting the chest WELL on a folded coat or other article of dress; 6. Turn the body very GENTLY ON THE SIDE AMD A LITTLE BEYOND, and then BRISKLY on the face, alternately; repeating these measures delibe- rately, efficiently, and perseveringly FIFTEEN times in the minute, occasionally VARYING the side; [when the patient reposes on the chest, this cavity it compressed by the weight of the body, and EXPIRA- TION takes place ; taken he is turned on the side, Ufa pressure is removed, and INSPIRATION occurs.] VI. No more persons to be admitted into the room than are absolutely necessary.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

On the restoration of life, a teaspoonful of warm water should be given; and then, if the power of swallowing be returned, small quantities of wine, or diluted brandy, warm: the patient should be kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged. Great care is requisite to maintain the restored vital actions, and at the same time to prevent undue excitement.

The treatment recommended by the Society to be persevered in for three or four hours, at it it an erroneous opinion that persons are irrecoverable be- cause life doet not toon mate its appearance, eases having come under the notice of the. Society of suc- cessful remit* even after Jive hours; and it is alto absurd to suppose that a body must not be meddled with or removed without the previous permission of a Coroner.

7. When the PRONE position is resumed, HAKE equable but efficient PRESSURE, with brisk move- ment, ALONG the back of the CREST; BEHOVING it immediately before rotation on the side; [the first measure augments the expiration, the second commences inspiration.'] *,* THE RESULT is—RESPIRATOR j—AND, w nor TOO LATE, LIFE* IV. To INDUCE CIRCULATION ANDW.UUJTH— 8. Meantime rub the limbs UPWARDS, with FIRM GRASPING PRESSURE and with ENERGY, using hand- kerchiefs, &c.

[by this measure the blood is propelled along the veins towards the heart."] 9. Let the limbs be thus wanned and dried, and then clothed, the bystanders supplying the re- quisite garments.

10. AVOID THE CONTINUOUS WARM-BATH, AND THE POSITION ON, OH INCLINED TO, THE BACK.

Our limited space will not admit of our placing before our readers the whole of Dr. MARSHALL HALL'S arguments in detail; they will, however, find the subject dis- cussed by him in the columns of the Lancet, in No. 15, and subsequent Nos. in Vol. I., and in Nos. VI., VII., and X. of the present year. They may also see a summary of the same in the 21st No. of this Journal. We will merely now shortly explain the leading points of difference between the old and the proposed methods:— Old Method.—After certain cautions in- tended to counteract mistaken notions pre- valent amongst ignorant people, the old instructions directed the body to be removed, on its lack, in a raised position, to the nearest house, where every means were to be then resorted to to promote warmth and restore circulation, of the blood; but no attempt to promote a return of suspended respiration appears to have been provided for. The recommendation to place the body on the back was, however, subse- quently rescinded in deference to the opinion of Dr. M. HALL as expressed in a pamphlet presented by him to the Royal Humane Society.

New Method.—On the contrary, Dr. M. HALL directs, 1. That the patient be treated "in- stantly," " on the spot," " in the open air." 2. That the body be placed on the face.

3. That respiration be excited.

4. That it be imitated by artificial ex- pansion and contraction of the chest.

5. That circulation be restored by friction and artificial warmth.

The substance of the doctor's arguments are, on the first head, that loss of time will, in many if not in most cases, be fatal; on the second head, that if the body be placed on the back, the tongue will of itself fall into such a position as to close the opening of' the windpipe and prevent breathing; which Dr. HALL asserts he has repeatedly proved by experiment on the dead subject.

On the third, fourth, and fifth heads, that it is of the utmost importance respiration be in the first instance restored, and that circu- lation of the blood had better remain sus- pended until it is so. He, therefore, al- together condemns the excitation of warmth, especially by means of a continuous warm- bath, until breathing has re-commenced.

His arguments are—that in life the two always go together—that by the act of respiration alone can the blood be purified as it passes through the lungs, and is ex- posed to the oxygen of the air inhaled by them; and that without such purifying process, carbonic acid, or blood-poison as it is termed, must accumulate and destroy life, We think there is something strikingly beautiful and simple in the process of re- storing respiration by the artificial and me- chanical expansion and contraction of the chest. In the means Dr. HALL recommends for promoting warmth and re-circulation of the blood there is also the novelty of rubbing the limbs from the extremities to the central parts of the body, to bring back the chilled and coagulating blood again within the in- fluence of the first renewed but feeble action of the heart.

Altogether, although we are uninstructed' in the medical art, Dr. HALL'S arguments appear to us so forcible and theoretically conclusive, and his experiments so con- vincing, that we cannot but deem them deserving of the most serious and careful consideration from every member of his distinguished profession.