Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/375

360 pool, one man sinks senseless and helpless, from breathing the unsuspected noxious atmosphere within, another man of cool mind would by means of this mode of preparation, which requires nothing but what is always at hand, have abundant time, in most cases, to descend by the ladder or the bucket, and rescue the sufferer without any risk on his own part. If a chamber were on fire, the difference in the help which could be given to any one within it by a person thus prepared, and another who goes in, perhaps, with lungs partially exhausted, and who, if he inhale any portion of the empyreumatic vapours of the atmosphere, is stimulated to inspire more rapidly, and is therefore urged to instant retreat into fresh air, is so great, that no one who has noticed what can be done in a minute or in two minutes of time can doubt the value of the preparation under such circumstances, even though from want of practice and from hurry and alarm it may be very imperfectly made. In cases of drowning, also, a diver may find his powers of giving aid wonderfully increased by taking advantage of Sir Graves Haughton's fact.

I have myself had occasion to go more than once or twice into places with atmospheres rendered had by carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen or combustion; and I feel how mach I should have valued at such times the knowledge of the fact above stated. Hoping, therefore, that it may be useful, I will add one or two precautions to be borne in mhid by those who desire to apply it.

Avoid all unnecessary action; for activity exhausts the sir in the lungs of its vital principle more quickly, and charges it with bad matter. Go collectedly, coolly and quietly to the spot where help is required: do no more than is needful, leaving what can be done by those who are in a safe atmosphere (as the hauling up of a senseless body, for example,) for them to do.

Take the precautions usual in cases of danger in addition to the one now recommended. Thus, in a case of choke-damp, as in a brewer's vat, hold the head as high as may be; in a case of fire in a room, keep it as low down as possible. If a rope is at hand, by all means let it be fastened to the person who is giving help, that he may be succoured if he should venture too far. It is astonishing how many deaths