It has been proposed, in cases of suffocation, to take away blood from some of the larger veins; as far as relates to the asphyxia, no advantage can accrue from such a practice, but incidental benefit may arise where congestion has taken place in the brain, as happens in hanging: in such cases the jugular veins are those from which the blood can be taken with the greatest chance of success. Advantage is also said to accrue from the application of volatile alkali, or other pungent bodies to the inside of the nostrils; whatever promotes sneezing or coughing is supposed to give a succussion to the diaphragm and its antagonist muscles, and thereby to promote the re-establishment of respiration. Cordials, moderate warmth, and quiet, are the resources upon which we are to rely for the ultimate recovery of the vital powers, after the complete establishment of the function of respiration. For a long period, injections of tobacco enjoyed a high, but unmerited reputation amongst the medicinal agents that were supposed capable of rousing the latent energies of life, in cases of suspended animation; and strange as it may appear, this most powerful narcotic poison, until within a few years, was annually recommended for such purposes by those who professed to instruct the profession and the public upon these important topics; this may be considered as one of the most stupendous errors that ever occurred in the exercise of the medical art. Where the asphyxia has arisen from the inhalation of noxious vapours, as those emitted by burning charcoal, the exposure of the body to cold has been strongly recommended. In Russia, where from the mode of heating the dwellings, accidents of this kind very frequently occur, the general practice is to rub the body with snow, and it is said with the happiest effect; this plan, says Dr. _Babington_, is probably of use, from the strong impression which is made upon the skin as a sentient organ. It is also a well known fact, that the recovery of the dogs which are made the subjects of experiment in the _Grotto del Cane_, is much favoured by their being plunged into a neighbouring lake. Is it necessary to repeat, that the idea respecting the presence of any considerable portion of water in the lungs of a drowned person, has no foundation in truth? we should have scarcely deemed the notice of such a fallacy, and that of the practice founded upon it, of hanging by the heels, called for in this place, had not an opinion been lately delivered, by a medical witness, that _a person drowned in the Thames might possibly have been recovered, but for the impurity of the water, arising from the gas-works_. We have only to observe upon this occasion, that had the individual in question recovered in the hands of a practitioner who could have delivered so absurd an opinion, he would have been more indebted to good fortune than to skilful attention.