Premature Burial and How It May Be PreventedTebb, William
Science
Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented
Tebb, William
Burial, Premature
“A few years since I was walking by the Central Park, near One Hundred
and Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue. Noticing a crowd that was acting in
an unusual manner by the side of the lake, I approached and inquired of
one of the bystanders what was the cause of the excitement. He replied,
‘A boy is drowned.’ I advanced to the edge of the water, and saw two
or three men in the water searching for the body. As they had not yet
discovered it, I made enquiries, and found at last a small boy who had
been a comrade of the victim. He showed me the spot from which the boy
had fallen. I then pointed out to the searchers where to look, and
immediately the body was recovered. I took it at once from the hands of
the person who had it, and held it reversed, in order to disembarrass
it of all the water possible, for a minute or two, then stripped it of
its clothing, sent for a blanket and brandy. I took a woollen coat from
one of the bystanders until the blanket should arrive, laid the child
upon it and commenced to rotate it. This I continued to do for at least
fifteen minutes by the watch. I then tried auscultation; no murmur
could be heard.
“The skin was cold, the lips were blue. Every artery was still. With
all these signs of death present it was still obligatory upon me to
persevere. At the end of fifteen minutes there was a slight gasp. A
small quantity of brandy was placed upon the tongue. A little of this
ran into the larynx, and the stimulation was sufficient to produce
a long inspiration and then a cough. This was more than a half-hour
from the time when the boy had been removed from the water. Complete
restoration did not occur until nearly an hour from that time. He was
now given to his mother, and I was informed on the following day that
he entirely recovered, without an unfavourable symptom.”
The three following cases of resuscitation from apparent death by
drowning are copied from the most recent reports of the Royal Humane
Society, London:--
“On 13th of August, 1895, Samuel Lawrence, aged five years, while
playing on the bank of a disused clay-pit at South Bank, Yorkshire,
fell into the water and sank. Two of his companions dived into the
water, and brought him up after a submersion of from seven to ten
minutes in an unconscious state. Two working men commenced artificial
respiration, and Dr. Steele continued it for ten hours before the boy
showed signs of returning sensibility and his complete recovery.”
“October 6th, 1895.--At Deptford, Surrey, a woman with a baby in her
arms threw herself into the canal. They were rescued by the Royal
Humane Society’s drags. Two ladies took possession of the bodies (time
of submersion not stated), and they employed Silvester’s system of
artificial respiration with success, in the case of the woman in about
one hour, and with the child one hour and a half.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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