NEW EXPERIMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 413, 23 December 1932, Page 7

NEW EXPERIMENT

LIFE-SAVINGi GAS j SYDNEY INVENTION TO BE TRIED OUT THIS \ SUMMER l WAITING AN OPPORTUNITY

This season, Manly; Bondi, and Coogee beaches will become scientific la-, J boratories. Every surfer will be the , guinea pig of a great experiment. j But no white-coated .scientists will J show that anything is going on, only a group of medical students, specially appointed honary members of the Surf Life-Saving Clubs. They will watch and wait anxiously to try out a new life-saving gas evolved by Professor H. W. Davies, of Sydney University. To explain how the gas, which' consists of 95 per cen. oxygan and 5 per cent. carbon dioxide, is going to bring back life to the apparently drowned, Professor Davies said that four distinct things took place during the process of drowning.

After the nrst few gulps of water there was a sense of excitement and loss of will control. This explained why many drowning people struggled against rescurers. Four Stages Of Drowning The second stage was loss of consciousness. Lack of air, and therefore lack of oxygen, brought about' the third stage when that part of the braiaa which controlled breathing failed. The fourth and last stage was when the heart stopped pumping. In the case of fresh water mishaps ordinary life-saving aneth'ods were sure of anore frequent success, because the blood could absorb a certain amount of water from the lungs, but this was not the case with sea water. In sea water cases a froth remained in the lungs, and this often prevented ordinary air from supplying the necessary oxygen to restart normal breathing. Gas in Cylinders The gas to be used on the beaches this season was expected to overcome this difficulty. It will be applied through' a mask from cylinders in conjunction with the- Schafer method of life-saving. The apparatus which will be used if necessary, at Bondi this week-end is the firsti of its kind in the world.