I tried to rouse him, but in vain, by pinching, shaking, applying volatile spirits, and other stimulating things to his nose, &c. A few ounces of blood were likewise taken from his arm, and a mixture of vinegar and water was poured into his mouth; but, as he could not swallow, very little of this got into the stomach. None of these things having the least effect, and the danger seeming to increase, I ordered his legs to be put into warm water, and a sharp clyster to be immediately administered. This gave him a stool, and was the first thing that relieved him. It was afterwards repeated with the same happy effect, and seemed to be the chief cause of his recovery. He then began to shew some signs of life, took drink when it was offered him, and came gradually to his senses. He continued, however, for several days weak and feverish, and complained much of a soreness in his bowels, which gradually went off, by means of a slender diet, and cool mucilaginous liquors.
This young man would probably have been suffered to die, without any assistance being called, had not a neighbour, a few days before, who had been advised to drink a bottle of spirits to cure him of an ague, expired under very similar circumstances.
OF SUFFOCATION AND STRANGLING·
These may sometimes proceed from an infarction of the lungs, produced by viscid clammy humours, or a spasmodic affection of the nerves of that organ. Persons who feed grossly, and abound in rich blood, are very liable to suffocating fits from the former of these causes. Such ought, as soon as they are attacked, to be bled, to receive an emollient clyster, and to take frequently a cup of diluting liquor with a little nitre in it. They should likewise receive the steams of hot vinegar into their lungs by breathing.
Nervous and asthmatic persons are most subject to spasmodic affections of the lungs. In this case the patient’s legs should be immersed in warm water, and the steams of vinegar applied as above. Warm diluting liquors should likewise be drank; to a cup of which a tea-spoonful of the parygoric elixir may occasionally be added. Burnt paper, feathers, or leather, may be held to the patient’s nose, and fresh air should be freely admitted to him.
Infants are often suffocated by the carelessness or inattention of their nurses[[203]]. An infant when in bed should always be laid so, that it cannot tumble down with its head under the bed-clothes; and when in a cradle, its face ought never to be covered. A small degree of attention to these two simple rules would save the lives of many infants, and prevent others from being rendered weak and sickly all their days by the injuries done to their lungs.
Instead of laying down a plan for the recovery of infants who are suffocated, or overlaid, as it is termed by their nurses, I shall give the history of a case related by Monsieur Janin, of the Royal College of Surgery at Paris, as it was attended with success, and contains almost every thing that can be done on such occasions.
A nurse having had the misfortune to over-lay a child, he was called in, and found the infant without any signs of life; no pulsation in the arteries, no respiration, the face livid, the eyes open, dull, and tarnished, the nose full of snivel, the mouth gaping, in short it was almost cold. Whilst some linen clothes and a parcel of ashes were warming, he had the boy unswathed, and laid him in a warm bed, and on the right side. He then was rubbed all over with fine linen, for fear of fretting his tender and delicate skin. As soon as the ashes had received their due degree of heat, Mr. Janin buried him in them, except the face, placed him on the side opposite to that on which he had been at first laid, and covered him with a blanket. He had a bottle of eau de luce in his pocket, which he presented to his nose from time to time; and between whiles some puffs of tobacco were blown up his nostrils: to these succeeded the blowing into his mouth, and squeezing tight his nose. Animal heat began thus to be excited gradually; the pulsations of the temporal artery were soon felt, the breathing became more frequent and free, and the eyes closed and opened alternately. At length the child fetched some cries expressive of his want of the breast, which being applied to his mouth, he catched at it with avidity, and sucked as if nothing had happened to him. Though the pulsations of the arteries were by this time very well re-established, and it was hot weather, yet Mr. Janin thought it advisable to leave his little patient three quarters of an hour longer under the ashes. He was afterwards taken out, cleaned and dressed as usual; to which a gentle sleep succeeded, and he continued perfectly well.
Mr. Janin mentions likewise an example of a young man who had hanged himself through despair, to whom he administered help as effectually as in the preceding case.
Mr. Glover, surgeon in Doctors Commons, London, relates the case of a person who was restored to life after twenty-nine minutes hanging, and continued in good health for many years after.