Note 474 — MINERAL POISONS. (continued 4)
Reading edition
See our chapter on “the Physiological causes and Phenomena of Sudden Death,” page 16.
In the course of the present work we have frequently recommended the artificial inflation of the lungs, in cases where life is liable to be extinguished by suffocation, (page 78); but we have not yet hinted at the possibility of employing such a resource with success in cases of narcotic poisoning, wherein the death may be physiologically considered as analogous to that occasioned by suffocation. Mr. Brodie was the first philosopher who ventured to propose such an expedient, and in an experiment carefully performed on an animal under such circumstances its life was preserved.
The success of the process will depend upon our being able to keep up an artificial breathing, until the effects of the narcotic have passed away, and the energy of the brain is restored. As during this interval the generation of animal heat appears to be in a great measure suspended, it will be necessary to maintain a sufficient temperature by art.