GASSING CURED BY NEW BLOOD.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1916, Page 8

GASSING CURED BY NEW BLOOD.

ANIMALS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE. Chicago, January 20. Remarkable results obtained by Dr. W. H. Burmeister, of the University of Chicago, in treating gas poisoning' in animals by transfusion of blood, may prove of great benefit to victims of poison gas attacks in war, in the opinion of Dr. Charles .1. Whelan, president of the Chicago Medical Society. "Blood is easy to obtain in battlefield hospitals," says Dr. Whelan, " and the transfusion .treatment ought to save (0 per cent, of the asphyxiated soldiers." Dr. Burmeister expresses the opinion, based on his experiments, that it i« possible to restore to life those dead from asphyxiation, drowning, or other accidents which cut off the supply of oxygen. He lias restored to life several rabbits and dogs after being asphyxiated, and after all other artificial means failed. The operation consisted in transfusion of blood into the veins of the "dead" animal accompanied with the regular methods of artificial respiration. His experiments consisted in asphyxiating his subjects to a point where heart, massage, heart stimulants and oxygen administrations failed to bring signs of life. The rabbits or dogs were then hung up by their hind legs and transFusion made into a vein in the ear of each subject. "The reaction in most cases was almost instantaneous," he said. "The animal would'begin, to breathe and .the heart to contract and expand in .a few seconds, despite the fact that artificial .rwp.li'atory meanjj had heMi itiArfeetive,"