On asphyxia, and on the Resuscitation of Stillborn Children.

8vo. pp. (409)-424. Disbound. Very good. RARE. First American issue. Also published, 'On asphyxia, and on the resuscitation of still-born children,' London Medical Gazette, vol. 29 (5 November 1841): pp. 222-27. / Between 1839 and 1841 Snow experimented with a guinea pig, suffocating the creature and then beginning a dissection. He found that an hour after death that he perceived a 'slight vermicular motion in the right auricle. He opened the trachea and began artificial respiration. The heart's ventricles began to move, and through the coast of the left atrium (the chamber that receives blood from the lungs) he could see oxygen-rich, bright red blood. The heart continued to contract weakly, unable to expel blood from its chambers, but it kept beating rhythmically for forty-five minutes . . . This particular experiment took place in the course of his investigations into respiration and asphyxia, undertaken with the desire to establish the physiological basis for pulmonary resuscitation on infants.' Snow was witnessing one in twenty births being stillborn, many of whom were asphyxiated. Many methods of resuscitating were tried, including electrical shock, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, etc. 'snow surmised that the line between life and death was not fixed, and the heart retained its irritability (its ability to be stimulated by oxygen) beyond death.' With this study done, Snow's recommendation was to use his 'artificial respirator on still-born infants.' (p. 1-3). This whole effort was to reinforce Snow's experimental method to study a medical problem. Because of this experience he was encouraged to continue his research practices. The announcement created a varied debate wherein many opinions and experiences were expressed. This led, if indirectly, to his use in 1848 to apply chloroform to a patient with a difficult birthing history. (p. 4). - Vinten-Johansen, et.al. / 'Shepard considers this paper particularly significant for Snow's later anesthesia research.' By Peter Vinten-Johansen, Howard Brody, Nigel Paneth, Stephen Rachman, Michael Rip, David Zuck, Cholera, Chloroform, and the Science of Medicine: A Life of John Snow. Oxford University Press, 2003. pp. 1-34, 90-95. First Edition.

Product Info

Publisher: The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. XXV, no. 26, February 2, 1842.

Year: 1842

Type: Used

Binding: Softcover

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