PUMPING THE LUNGS WITH A RUBBER BULB.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 364, 28 March 1918, Page 4

PUMPING THE LUNGS WITH A RUBBER BULB.

Tivo members of the Roekfeller In. stitnte, Drs. S. J. Meltzer and John Auir, have devised an artificialbreathing instrument,, much simpler thai! the pulmotor, by means of which a puison may be kept alive for hours without any motion or effort at breath j ing uii his part.

This is accomplished by pumping a steady stream of air into the lungs by! means of a rubber tube pushed downl into the windpipe to the point where it branches out to the lungs, having attached to it a rubber bulb or fooi bellows for pumping the air. That is the apparatus in its simplest form. 01 course, it has been improved and am plified until it may be a complicated machine, with a pressure gauge, a mo tor pump, gas bags or tanks, etc.. bin even the simple.it apparatus will per form wonders. One of its least elab orato forms h shown in the illustra

It consists of a rubber tube, which should not be more than one-halt' 01 two-thirds the size of th.> inside- of the windpipe, s r , that the returning stream oF air may escape along its side-. The tube is connected with a double rubber. bulb such a- sometime* seen on an or diuan atomizer for throwing a stead> Stream of spray or air. These are th' essentials of the apparatus, but in order to know how strong a stream of air is I tin:; sent into ihr billys the air tube is uNo connected with a gauge to show the pressure of (he air pa-,< ing through the tube.

The instrument may be used for reviving persons who are asphyxiat-d from inhaling gas, either in mine- or houses, or from drowning; and for reviving newborn babies who do not breathe, or patient, who stop breathing while taking an anesthetic, such as chloroform or ether. It may also be used to give an anesthetic, and it has I eeii found to be one of the safest anil best methods of doing this. In

this instance, the air, a> it passes from th' 1 pump to the lungs, is made to pass through a bottle containing the anesthetic, some of the vapor.of which is mixed with the air and is car ried to the lungs.

The m< ilmd is nUo exceedingly vnl liable in op 1 ration- on the chest m' limps in which the i-ln'-t must lie open-i ed. Wlieri this cavity is opened to the' outside air miflor ordinary condition-, the lungs cnllai'se and tie patients *1 i<-. immediately. Such operation?; have heretofore 1 ict-n done in a large cabinet under diminished air |>r «siiiv. I!;the metliod now described any dourer, of pressure may he maintained insi(]i the Junjis '»>' -imply increasing mdiminishing the amount <.f air sent in I to the limps:, jm indicated on the] pressure ganije. and the' lungs may he maintained in any decree of inflation or collapse.

In the case of asphyxiated persons, if the heart has not stopped for too long a time, the application of stimulants, electricity, massage, etc., to ex cite it to action, together with this method of supplying oxygen to the blood. may sav< many lives which] would otherwise be lost. The method' is called intratracheal insufflation,] which means -imply, the forcing of air into the trachea or windpipe.

Since (lie days tliat are past are yono for ever, and those that are to come O man. to employ the present time, without the loss which is p.-ist. or id.i much depending on that uliich is to come. Dudsley.