An experimental inquiry into the proximate cause of death from suspended respiration in drowning and hanging, with the means of resuscitation : submitted as an inaugural essay to the public examination of the trustees and professors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the University of the State of New-York, Samuel Bard, M.D. president, for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the 3d of May, 1814 / by Ansel W. Ives, honorary member of the American Aesculapian Society.

  • Ives, Ansel W. (Ansel Wilmot), 1787-1838.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental inquiry into the proximate cause of death from suspended respiration in drowning and hanging, with the means of resuscitation : submitted as an inaugural essay to the public examination of the trustees and professors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the University of the State of New-York, Samuel Bard, M.D. president, for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the 3d of May, 1814 / by Ansel W. Ives, honorary member of the American Aesculapian Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    20/44
    win. If as he supposed the left side of the Heart ceased to act in consequence of the sedative effect of the black blood, then tie left side of the Heart would be found engorged with blood, instead of the right, and the right which according to him retains the power of forcible contraction, would be found empty; for it is obvious that the blood must be lodged in the part where there is the greatest obstruction to its passage, and the least power to overcome it. Now Doctor Goodwin has acknowledged that from his own ■xperiments, he believes the Lungs are never entirely destitute of air, but even after the most complete expiration in Drowning or Hanging, that they contain a considerable quantity. Though I am not induced from my own experiments to believe the quantity to be very great, I am fully satisfied that they are never empty. Taking it for granted then, that there is always more or less air in the Lungs, and that there is in the blood a stimulating quality which is neutralized by carbon, I shall upon this supposition attempt to account for the accumulation of blood in the right side of the Heart. It cannot be owing to the greater thinness of the parietes, for we must suppose that each side has power pro- portional to the cause through which it has to propel the blood. But is it not owing to the greater impunity of the blood in the right side of the Heart than in the left? I am aware that it may be said in objection that the blood is always more impure in the right side than in the left, and that there is not a greater relative difference of impurity when respiration is stopped, than when it goes on freely. But admitting this, let us recur to another con- sideration, which we ought by no means to disregard. ■ We suppose that the stimulating quality of the blood can be completely neutralized with carbon, and this will take place when the saturation is complete. And will not this happen first in the