Annual report of the Royal Humane Society, for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned. 1812.

  • Royal Humane Society (London, England)
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Royal Humane Society, for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned. 1812. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/170 (page 6)
    TION IV. a. b.) The unfortunate object should be cau¬ tiously conveyed by two or more persons ; or in a car¬ riage upon straw, lying as on a bed, with the head a little raised, and kept in as natural and easy a position as possible. The body, being well dried with a cloth or flannel, should be placed in a moderate degree of heat, but not too near a large fire. The window or door of the room should be left open, and no more persons admitted into it than those who are absolutely necessary, as the lives of the patients greatly depend upon their having the benefit of pure air. The warmth most promising of success is that of a bed or blanket well heated. Bottles of hot water should be laid at the bottoms of the feet, to the joints of the knees, and under the arm-pits; and a warming-pan, moderately heated, or hot bricks wrap¬ ped in cloths, should be passed over the body. The na¬ tural and kindly warmth of a healthy person lying by the side of the body has been found, in some cases, parti¬ cularly of children, very efficacious. Should the accident happen in the neighbourhood of a warm bath, brewhouse, bakehouse, glasshouse, or any fabrick where warm lees, ashes, embers, grains, sand, water, &c. are easily procured, it would be of great importance to place the body in any of these, moderated to a degree of heat little exceeding that of a healthy person ; or in Summer, the exposure to sunshine has been proved obviously beneficial. Friction with the hand, or with warm flannel or coarse cloth, so as not to injure the skin, should also be tried, with perseverance, for a considerable period of time.