APPENDIX.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAVING DROWNING PERSONS BY SWIMMING TO THEIR RELIEF.

Ist. When you approach a person drowning in the water, assure him, with a loud and firm voice, that he is safe.

2nd. Before jumping in to save him, divest yourself as far and as quickly as possible of all clothes; tear them off, if necessary; but if there is not time, loose, at all events, the foot of your drawers, if they are tied, as if you do not do so they will fill with water and drag you.

3rd. On swimming to a person in the sea, if he be struggling, do not seize him then, but keep off for a few seconds, till he gets quiet; for it is sheer madness to take hold of a man when he is struggling in the water, and if you do you run a great risk.

4th. Then get close to him, and take fast hold of the hair of his head, turn him as quickly as possible on to his back, give him a sudden pull, and this will cause him to float; then throw yourself on your back also and swim for the shore, both hands having hold of his hair, you on your back, and he also on his, and, of course, his back to your stomach. In this way you will get sooner and safer ashore than by any other means, and you can easily thus swim with two or three persons. The writer has often, as an experiment, done it with four, and gone with them forty or fifty yards in the sea. One great advantage of this method is, that it enables you to keep your head up, and also to hold the person's head up you are trying to save. It is of primary importance that you take fast hold of the hair, and throw both the person and yourself on your backs. After many experiments, I find this vastly preferable to all the other methods. You can, in this manner, float nearly as long as you please, or until a boat or other help can be obtained.

5th. I believe there is no such thing as a death-grasp, at least it must be unusual, for I have seen many persons drowned, and have never witnessed it. As soon as a drowning man begins to get feeble and to lose his recollection, he gradually slackens his hold, until he quits it altogether. No apprehension need therefore be felt on that head, when attempting to rescue a drowning person.

6th. After a person has sunk to the bottom, if the water be smooth, the exact position where the body lies may be known by the air-bubbles, which will occasionally rise to the surface, allowance being made, of course, for the motion of the water if in a tideway or stream, which will have carried the bubbles out of a perpendicular course in rising to the surface. A body may be often regained from the bottom, before too late for recovery, by diving for it in the direction indicated by these bubbles.

7th. On rescuing a person by diving to the bottoin, the hair of the head should be seized by one hand only, and the other used in conjunction with the feet in raising yourself and the drowning person to the surface.

8th. If in the sea, it may sometimes be a great error to try to get to land. If there be a strong 'out-setting' tide, and you are swimming, either by yourself, or having hold of a person who cannot swim, then get on to your back and float till help comes. Many a man exhausts himself by stemming the billows for the shore on a back-going tide, and sinks in the effort, when, if he had floated, a boat, or other aid, might have been obtained.

9th. These instructions apply alike to all circumstances, whether the roughest sea or smooth water.

SUNDERLAND, Dec. 1858.

JOSEPH R. HODGSON.

DIRECTIONS FOR RESTORING THE APPARENTLY DROWNED.

It may happen that some one or other of my readers may be present at the occurrence of an accident of the kind to which the following directions relate, and, from their perusal, be enabled to be of essential service. However this may be, it is certain that such valuable instructions as these cannot be too widely dissemi

nated, and I therefore insert them in the work, as peculiarly apropos to a volume certain to be placed in the hands of many sufficiently interested in aquatic pursuits to pass much of their time either on the bosom or the margin of old ocean's depths.'

These directions are issued by the Royal National Life-boat Institution.

I.

Send immediately for medical assistance, blankets, and dry clothing, but proceed to treat the patient instantly on the spot, in the open air, with the face downward, whether on shore or afloat ; exposing the face, neck, and chest to the wind, except in severe weather, and removing all tight clothing from the neck, and chest, especially the braces.

The points to be aimed at are--first and immediately, the RESTORATION OF BREATHING; and, secondly, after breathing is restored, the PROMOTION OF WARMTH AND CIRCULATION.

The efforts to restore Breathing must be commenced immediately and energetically, and persevered in for one or two hours, or until a medical man has pronounced that life is extinct. Efforts to promote Warmth and Circulation, beyond removing the wet clothes and drying the skin, must not be made until the first appearance of natural breathing; for if circulation of the blood be induced before breathing has recommenced, the restoration to life will be endangered.

II. TO RESTORE BREATHING.

To clear the Throat.-Place the patient on the floor or ground with the face downwards and one of the arms under the forehead, in which position all fluids will more readily escape by the mouth, and the tongue itself will fall forward, leaving the entrance into the windpipe free. Assist this operation by wiping and cleansing the mouth.

If satisfactory breathing commences, use the treatment described below to promote Warmth. If there be only slight breathing or no breathing-or if the breathing fail, then

To Excite Breathing.-Turn the patient well and instantly on the side, supporting the head (see fig. 94), and excite the nostrils with snuff, hartshorn, or smelling salts, or tickle the throat with a feather &c., if they are at hand. Rub the chest and face warm, and dash cold water, or cold and hot water alternately, on them. If there be no success, lose not a moment, but instantly—

To Imitate Breathing.-Replace the patient on the face, raising and supporting the chest well on a folded coat or other article of dress. (See fig. 95.)

Turn the body very gently on the side, and a little beyond, and then briskly on the face, back again, repeating these measures cautiously, efficiently, and perseveringly, about fifteen times in the minute, or once every four or five seconds, occasionally varying the side.

[By placing the patient on the chest, the weight of the body forces the air out; when turned on the side, this pressure is removed, and the air enters the chest.]

On each occasion that the body is replaced on the face make uniform but efficient pressure, with brisk movement, on the back, between and below the shoulder-blades or bones on each side, removing the pressure immediately before turning the body on the side.

During the whole of the operations let one person attend solely to the movements of the head and of the arm placed under it.

[The first measure increases the expiration-the second com

mences inspiration.]

The result is Respiration or Natural Breathing; and, if not too late, Life.

Whilst the above operations are being proceeded with, dry the hands and feet, and as soon as dry clothing or blankets can be

procured, strip the body, and cover or gradually reclothe it, but taking care not to interfere with the efforts to restore breathing.

III.

Should these efforts not prove successful in the course of from two to five minutes, proceed to imitate breathing by Dr. Silvester's method, as follows:—

Place the patient on the back on a flat surface, inclined a little upwards from the feet; raise and support the head and shoulders on a small firm cushion or folded article of dress placed under the shoulder-blades.

The foregoing two illustrations show the position of the body during the employment of Dr. Marshall Hall's method of inducing Respiration.

Draw forward the patient's tongue, and keep it projected beyond the lips an elastic band over the tongue and under the chin will answer this purpose, or a piece of string or tape may be tied round them, or by raising the lower jaw the teeth may be made to retain the tongue in that position. Remove all tight clothing from about the neck and chest, especially the braces.

To Imitate the Movements of Breathing.-Standing at the patient's head, grasp the arms just above the elbows, and draw the arms gently and steadily upwards above the head, and keep them stretched upwards for two seconds as in fig. 96. (By this means air is drawn into the lungs.) Then turn down the patient's arms, and

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