MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 8 February 1905, Page 10

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

■ ♦ j RESTORATION FROM ELECTRIC j SHOCK: i How to drag the victim from the live j cable. Po not touch with bare hands. Pall him off by coat-tails, if coat dry. ! Or fold a newspaper in three thicknesses over hand. Or pnll cable away by broom-handle. SDind on a dry board or newspaper. Apropos of the recent fatalities i among employees of electrified railways in England, the. ""Electrical Review" has I brought out an illustrated showcard ! containing suggestions for dealing with ! apparent death from electric shoclf. ' In many cases where persons receive ' electric shocks <k»ath is only apparent, i and animation may be restored if j effort* at resuscitation are not too long \ delayed. The method of resuscitation j resorted to should be 'that known as ! artificial respiration. Steady, persistent effort is one of the i csf.entia.l conditions of successful attempts to restore animation. In case j of severe shock, respiration is seldom i established under one hour, while three ! hours may be necessary to restore nor- i mal breathing. , Break the circuit at once if there be an interrupter close at hand; if not, lose no time, but proceed to remove j •the body from contact with the Do not touch the man's body with j bare hands, but if indiarubber gloves ; arc not at hand pull him off the cable I by his coat-tails if his clothes are not j wet, or fold your coat or some dry ! a.rtiele. such as a newspaper into two or j three thicknesses, and using I this as a pad, take hokl I 01 I be body and pull it awp.y ' from the circuit, or a broom handle may be used to raise the body or to ' detach the wires from it. A good plan is to stand on a dry board or ou a thick newspaper or bundle of sacking. ! Having pulled tbe body away from tlie ! cable, free the neck from dothing and j treat the case as one of drowning as ' iollows:— Tbe body should be at once j placed upon the back and the clothes ' loosened. A roll made of a coat or ' anything else convenient should then be j placed under the shoulders. It should ! be sufficiently large to prop up the \ spine, so that the head drops backwards. Open the mouth, and taking hold of '■ the front part of the tongue with the fingers (covered with a. towel or hand- i kerchief, if available), draw the tongue ! forwards und gradually let it gt> back. I Do this fifteen times n minute; be sure I tbe root of the tongue is acted upon j and drawn forward. While this is being I done, another operator should grasp the j forearms just, below the elbow. and j draw the arms upwards and outwards ' towards himself with a sweeping move- ' ment. making the elbows touch the ground and proceeding as rin the treat- I ment of the apparently drowned. Avoid stimulants: send for i doctor. ;