E, " " 60 " 96 "
F, pulse taken after rapid breathing for one minute, as in E, where no
respiration had as yet been taken after the essayist had kept it up for
that one minute. This was after 10 seconds had intervened.
G, the same taken 50 seconds after, and still no respiration had been
taken, the subject having no disposition to inhale, the blood having been
over oxygenated.
The pulse in E shows after 96 respirations but 14, or 84 per minute, and
the force nearly as in the normal at A, A1.
The record in B shows the force more markedly, but still normal in number.
F and G show very marked diminution in the force, but the number of
pulsations not over 72 per minute; G particularly so, the heart needing the
stimulus of the oxygen for full power.
The following incident which has but very recently been made known, gives
most conclusive evidence of the truth of the theory and practice of rapid
breathing.
A Mexican went into the office of a dentist in one of the Mexican cities to
have a tooth extracted by nitrous oxide gas.
The dentist was not in, and the assistant was about to permit the patient
to leave without removing the tooth, when the wife of the proprietor
exclaimed that she had often assisted her husband in giving the gas, and
that she would do so in this instance if the assistant would agree to
extract the tooth. It was agreed. All being in readiness, the lady turned
on as she supposed the gas, and the Mexican patient was ordered to breathe
as fast as possible to make sure of the full effect and no doubt of the
final success. The assistant was about to extract, but the wife insisted on
his breathing more rapidly, whereupon the patient was observed to become
very dark or purple in the face, which satisfied the lady that the
full effect was manifested, and the tooth was extracted, to the great
satisfaction of all concerned. While the gas was being taken by the Mexican
the gasometer was noticed to rise higher and higher as the patient breathed
faster, and not to sink as was usual when the gas had been previously
administered. This led to an investigation of the reason of such an
anomalous result, when to their utter surprise they found the valve was so
turned by the wife that the Mexican had been breathing nothing but common
air, and instead of exhaling into the surrounding air he violently forced
it into the gasometer with the nitrous oxide gas, causing it to rise and
not sink, which it should have done had the valve been properly turned by
the passage of gas into the lungs of the patient.
No more beautiful and positive trial could happen, and might not again by
accident or inadvertence happen again in a lifetime.
* * * * *