_Wherein the action of the heart fails before that of the respiratory
organs._
In no case of this description can artificial inflation of the lungs
afford the least assistance, for the left side of the heart always
contains florid blood at the moment of its cessation; and since this
fact proves that it failed in its action, while under the full influence
of duly oxygenized blood, how can we expect that the stimulus, which was
unable to preserve the heart’s action while yet in motion, shall be able
to re-excite it after it has ceased? Such a practice can only have been
suggested by that erroneous physiology which maintained that the motion
of the lungs excited that of the blood.
The preservation of the body from the influence of external cold is
always important, for it is only within a certain range of temperature
that the vital functions can be performed; and during a state of
asphyxia, the body is necessarily incapable of generating any portion of
animal heat; where the heat is lost it should be gradually restored, and
for such a purpose the introduction of wine, the volatile alkali, and
other stimulants, into the stomach, by means of a flexible tube, would
probably, in certain states of syncope, prove serviceable; although in
cases of suffocation it can never occasion the least benefit. We have
been also directed to employ frictions on the surface of the body, for
the purpose of assisting the circulation of the blood; as if, says Mr.
_Brodie_, (_Manuscript Notes_) this could answer any useful purpose
where the action of the heart has ceased, or as if it could be necessary
where it still continues.
Under the head ‘death from cold,’ we have stated that the left cavities
of the heart contain florid blood; it therefore follows that the
directions of the Humane Society, to inflate the lungs in such cases,
are founded in error.