He found that patients submitted to galvano-puncture could
not be rendered insensible by the effects of ether--the galvanism
invariably restored sensation--and taking this accidentally-discovered
fact as the basis of further research, he set to work and made a
series of experiments on living animals, and arrived at results which
in a brief summary are: that electricity, made to operate by means of
needles implanted in several parts of the body, especially in the
direction of the cerebro-spinal axis, reawakes sensibility, and
immediately puts the relaxed muscles into play. 'It constitutes,' he
adds, 'according to my experiments, the most prompt and efficacious
means--I may say the only efficacious--to restore to life any person
whose inhalation of chloroform has been prolonged beyond the time
prescribed by prudence. It is the first means to which recourse ought
to be had; and trials made in other ways appeared to me to lead to
nothing but loss of time, which in many cases would be fatal.'
M.H. Deschamps says, that there is a 'certain sign of death,' which,
if attended to, will entirely prevent risk of that much-dreaded
accident--premature interment.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101