1. Schäfer's.—Place the patient on his face, with a folded coat under the lower part of the chest. Unfasten the collar and neckband. Go to work at once. Kneel over him athwart or on one side facing his head. Place your hands flat over the lower part of his back, and make pressure on his ribs on both sides, and throw the weight of your body on to them so as to squeeze out the air from his chest. Get back into position at once, but leave your hands as they were. Do this every five seconds, and get someone to time you with a watch. Keep this going for half an hour, and when you are tired get someone to relieve you.
Other people may apply hot flannels to the limbs and hot water to the feet. Hypodermic injections of 1/50 grain of atropine, suprarenal or pituitary extracts, may be found useful.
2. Silvester's..—In this method the capacity of the chest is increased by raising the arms above the head, holding them by the elbows, and thus dragging upon and elevating the ribs, the chest being emptied by lowering the arms against the sides of the chest and exerting lateral pressure on the thorax. The patient is in the supine position—but first the water must have been drained from the mouth and nose by keeping the body in the prone position. The tongue must be kept forward by transfixing with a pin.
3. Marshall Hall's.—This consists in placing the patient in the prone position, with a folded coat under the chest, and rolling the body alternately into the lateral and prone positions.
4. Howard's.—This consists in emptying the thorax by forcibly compressing the lower part of the chest; on relaxing the pressure the chest again fills with air. Here the patient is placed in the supine position.
The objections to the supine position are that the tongue falls back, and not only blocks the entrance of air, but prevents the escape of water, mucus, and froth from the air-passages.
5. Laborde's Method.—This consists in holding the tongue by means of a handkerchief, and rhythmically drawing it out fully at the rate of fifteen times per minute. This excites the respiratory centre, and this method may be employed along with any of the other methods.