Page 418 - My FlipBook

414 ANESTHETICS.

state of the circulation will be better recognized by
this than by the radial artery, and it is a more con-
venient point for observation. In favorable cases, it
is preferable to continue the inhalation till there is a

muscular relaxation.
When a condition arises in which respiration is
suspended, and the circulation partially or altogether
stopped—a condition of imminent peril—active mea-
sures must be resorted to for the patient's restoration.
Efforts must be directed to a recovery of the circula-
tion, by friction, motion, etc. ; but to restore the
respiration, is the first, immediate, imperative con-

sideration. Any or all of the ordinary methods of
re-establishing suspended respiration may be em-
ployed. Cold water should be dashed in the face,
and on the throat and chest, and volatile stimu-
lants applied to the nostrils ; the glottis should be
titillated with a feather, or some such implement, to
excite it to action ; and artificial respiration, by some
approved method, should be at once adopted. The
galvanic current, too, may be brought into requisition,
to excite the respiratory muscles to action, and to act
also upon the circulation. In all cases of accident of
this kind, prompt and efficient measures should be
immediately taken; for a delay of a few moments

may be attended with fatal results.