LAY A FAINTING PERSON DOWN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1286, 25 January 1883, Page 3

LAY A FAINTING PERSON DOWN.

>'lt'is anrpriiiiig how everybody rushes .. at a fainting person and strives lo raise him up, and especially to keep his head erect. There must be an intinctipe apprehension Jhat if a person seized with afaintiug or other fil fall tntoa recumbent position, death is more immediat. I must have driven a mile to-day whilo a lady fainting was held upright. I found her pulseless, white, and apparently dying, and I delievo that if I hi d delayed ten minutes longer she would really have died. I laid her di wn on a lower level than her body, and immediately color letumed to her lips, and cheeks, and Bhe became conscious. To the excited group nf friends I said : Always remember this fact, namely, fainting is caused by want of blood in the brain ; the heart Mines to act with sufficent force to send the usual amount of blood to tho brain, Eeßtore the blood to the brain and instantly the person recovors. Now, though the blood is propelled to all parts of the body by the action of the bear), yet it iB still under the influence of the laws of gravitation, In the erect position the blood ascends to the he,id against gravitation, and the supply to the brain iB diminished as compared with the recumbent position, the hearts pulsation being equal. If, then, you place a person sitting whose heart hos nearly, ceased to beat, ins brain will fail to receive blood ; while if yon lay him down, with the head lower than the heart, blood will rnn into the brain by the mere force of gravity, and, in .fainting, in sufficent quality to restore consciousness, . Indeed, nature- teaches iis how to manage the fainting persons, for theg always fall, and frequently are at once restored at once by the recumbent poritiflh ifito which they are thrown.- ' Medical 1 Journal.'