Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/308

Rh water out of him. The Schaefer or prone method requires but one operator at a time and no waste of time in preliminaries.

When taken from the water the patient is laid on the ground face downward, arms extended above the head, face a little to one side, so as not to prevent the free passage of air. The operator kneels astride or beside the prone figure and lets his hands fall into the spaces between the short ribs. By letting the weight of the upper body fall upon his hands resting on the prone the air is forced out of the lungs; by relaxing the pressure, the chest cavity enlarges and air is drawn in to take the place of that forced out. By effecting this change of air—pressing and relaxing, twelve to fifteen times a minute (time it by watch at first, and then count) artificial breathing is performed. Sometimes it is necessary to work an hour or two before the flicker of an eyelid or a gasp from the patient rewards the life efforts, and then he must carefully "piece in" the breathing until natural breathing is resumed. When breathing starts, then promote circulation by rubbing the legs and body toward the heart. Do not attempt to stimulate by the throat until the patient can swallow. Give a teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, in half a glass of water.

Remember that by laying the patient fact downward fluids in the air passages will run or be forced out and the tongue will drop forward, and require no holding, always an awkward task.

Treatment After Respiration Begins

The after treatment is important. Put the patient to bed, keep quiet and warm. Always get the services of a physician as soon as possible, but do not wait for him to come. Start work instantly. The patient needs oxygen, so keep spectators away. They are robbing the man of the life-giving properties of the air. For this reason, in all but the most severe weather, it is well to work on the patient in the open.

Life Buoys If one is to place a life buoy for instant use in emergencies it should be hung upon four pegs driven into holes in two pieces of wood nailed together in the form of the diameter of a two-foot square or three pegs in strips of wood arranged in the form of a T, about eighteen or twenty inches high, the two pegs at either side of the top bar of the T and the other one on the upright near the bottom. Most Life buoys used on shore have fifty or seventy-five feet of light line