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In his comments upon this interesting case of restoration of life after apparent death from drowning, Hufeland makes the following remarks:—

It is evident, therefore, that artificial heat acts with the same vigor immediately after the appearance of what seems to be death as it does at the very first dawn of life; it gradually fans into a living flame the few vital sparks which may still be present in the body.

In the preceding account of the means adopted for resuscitating the soldier who was believed to be dead from the effects of drowning, no mention is made of friction of the surface of the body as a procedure of some value. Hufeland, very properly, lays great stress upon the need of applying heat. Friction, however, if employed intelligently, may prove a most efficient adjunct; and, when I use the expression “intelligently,” I mean that friction may be utilized as a powerful agent for propelling toward the heart the artificially heated blood contained in the cutaneous blood-vessels, thus contributing in no small degree toward the reëstablishment of the circulation. The kind of friction required—it seems scarcely necessary to say—should always be directed from the extremities toward the heart.