fuch a manner, as by one action to throw fresh air into the lungs, and by another to fuck out again the air that had been thrown by the former, without mixing them together. The muzzle of these bellows was fixed into the windpipe of a dog, and by working them he was kept perfectly alive. While this artificial breathing was going on, I took off the sternum of the dog, and exposed to view the heart and lungs. The heart continued to act as before, only the frequency of its action was confiderably increased. I then stopped the motion of the bellows, and the heart became gradually weaker and lefs frequent in its contraction, till it left off moving altogether. By renewing my operation, the heart begun again to act, at first very faintly, and with longer intermiffion; but by continuing the artificial breathing its action became as frequent and as strong as ever. I observed that every time I left off working the bellows, the heart became extremely turgid with blood, and the blood in the left fide became as DARK as that on the right fide; both fides of the heart having the SAME COLOURED BLOOD*, which was not the cafe when the bellows were working. *Please to compare the Plate on the oppofite page with the Map of the Heart in Vol. I. THIS THIS SITUATION OF THE ANIMAL APPEARS TO ME EXACTLY SIMILAR TO DROWNING †. Before I offer my fentiments on the method of treating perfons who are apparently drowned, it may be neceffary to state three propofitions. ift. So long as the animal retains the power, though deprived of the action of life; the cause of that privation being removed, the animal recovers. 2d. It is neceffary to mention, that I confider the living principle as inherent in the BLOOD, viz. that principle which prevents the corruption of the body, and is the caufe of all its actions. 3d. The last propofition I have to establish is, that the stomach sympathizes with every part of an animal, and that every part fympathizes with the ftomach; therefore whatever acts upon the ftomach, as a cordial, or roufes its natural and healthy actions, and on the contrary whatever affects it, fo as to produce debility, has an immediate effect upon every part of the body. * This experiment of JOHN HUNTER resembles that made by Dr. GOODWIN, p. 79; to which, with great fatisfaction, we refer the reader on the prefent occafion. PROP. PROP. I. When affiftance is called in, foon after the immerfion, AIR blown into the lungs may be sufficient to efThe DEPHLOGISTICATED fect a recovery. AIR*, described by Dr. PRIESTLEY, may prove more efficacious than common air. It is easily procured, and may be preserved for any length of time in bottles. — HUNTER. [To reftore a perfon from a temporary fufpenfion of vital action, is within the province of the physician : but to restore life, after it has entirely vanished, is an * As the doctrine of phlogifton is nearly exploded, this gas will be better understood by the term OXYGEN, or VITAL, AIR. Thefe proposals were first published in the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, and afterwards in his work on the ANIMAL ECONOMY; but, as JoHN HUNTER often lamented, he made no converts! "Whatever philofopher," fays this great anatomist," shall hereafter investigate the operation of air in the animal œco66 nomy, and will purfue my ideas of the vitality of the blood, he will be66 come a benefactor to mankind, and his name will be immortal!" Vide PART II. VOL. I. page 354. VOL. III. 4 D a& act of Omnipotence, and belongs only to HIM, who gave it. The former is merely to rekindle the flame of a taper, by gently fanning the ignited wick: the latter, to reanimate a corpse, after the vital spark is totally extinct. From the effects of VITAL AIR, ift. In giving a florid colour to the blood, 2d. In generating animal heat. We learn, why in fufpended respiration, the lungs ceafing to expand, and the blood to be changed in that organ, the heart ceases to contract, the arteries to vibrate, and finally, why the machine, though found and entire in all its parts, yet on a fudden, like a clock whose pendulum is stopped, remains entirely at reft. In the latter, if we move but the pendulum, the wheels are immediately put into motion, and the clock again correctly marks its hours and minutes as before: so likewife in the animal machine (for such is the harmonious confent of parts), that if motion can but be renewed in one of the principal organs, it is directly communicated to the next, and from thence to all the rest, Thus if the lungs expand, and the blood imbibes the VITAL AIR, the heart recovers its action, the brain |