[93] The Misfortune of a young Man drowned in bathing himself, at the Beginning of the Season, occasioned the Publication of this Chapter by itself in _June_, 1761. A few Days after, the like Misfortune happened to a labouring Man; but he was happily taken out of the water sooner than the first (who had remained about half an Hour under it) and he was recovered by observing Part of the Advice this Chapter contains; of which Chapter several Bystanders had Copies.--This Note seems to be from the Author himself. __Sect.__ 401. Whenever a Person who has been drowned, has remained a Quarter of an Hour under Water, there can be no considerable Hopes of his Recovery: the Space of two or three Minutes in such a Situation being often sufficient to kill a Man irrecoverably. Nevertheless, as several Circumstances may happen to have continued Life, in such an unfortunate Situation, beyond the ordinary Term, we should always endeavour to afford them the most effectual Relief, and not give them up as irrecoverable too soon: since it has often been known, that until the Expiration of two, and sometimes even of three Hours, such Bodies have exhibited some apparent Tokens of Life. Water has sometimes been found in the Stomach of drowned Persons; at other times none at all. Besides, the greatest Quantity which has ever been found in it has not exceeded that, which may be drank without any Inconvenience; whence we may conclude, the meer Quantity was not mortal; neither is it very easy to conceive how drowned Persons can swallow Water. What really kills them is meer Suffocation, or the Interception of Air, of the Action of breathing; and the Water which descends into the Lungs, and which is determined there, by the Efforts they necessarily, though involuntarily make, to draw Breath, after they are under Water: for there absolutely does not any Water descend, either into the Stomach or the Lungs of Bodies plunged into Water, after they are dead; a Circumstance, which serves to establish a legal Sentence and Judgment in some criminal Cases, and Trials: This Water intimately blending itself with the Air in the Lungs, forms a viscid inactive Kind of Froth, which entirely destroys the Functions of the Lungs; whence the miserable Sufferer is not only suffocated, but the Return of the Blood from the Head being also intercepted, the Blood Vessels of the Brain are overcharged, and an Apoplexy is combined with the Suffocation. This second Cause, that is, the Descent of the Water into the Lungs, is far from being general, it having been evident from the Dissection of several drowned Bodies, that it really never had existed in them.