breathing does not
fail, and, should any signs of failure appear, artificial respiration
should at once be resumed. While the patient is in the house, care
should be taken to let the air circulate freely about the room and all
overcrowding should be prevented.

In the Howard method there are only two movements; its knowledge is said
to be necessary in case the patient's arm be in any way injured, or a
more vigorous method than the "Silvester" deemed necessary, _but care
should be exercised not to injure the patient by too forcible pressure_.
The patient is laid on his back, the roll is larger than that used in
the Silvester method, and is placed farther under the back in order that
the lower part of the chest may be highest. After adjusting the roll,
the operator kneels astride of the patient, while his assistant goes to
the head, lifts the patient's arms beyond the head, and holds them to
the ground, cleans the mouth and nose, and attends to the tongue. The
operator, with his fingers spread well apart, taking care that the
thumbs do not press into the pit of the stomach, grasps the most
compressible part of the lower ribs, and with both hands applies
pressure firmly by leaning over the patient; then he springs back,
lifting his hands off the patient. Artificial respiration is thus
effected, and continued at the rate of about fifteen times a minute.
When natural breathing has been restored, the treatment is the same as
in the Silvester method.

These methods have now been superseded by the Schafer method, which has
been taken up by the Royal Life Saving Society, a body instituted in
1891 for the promotion of technical education in life saving and
resuscitation of the apparently drowned. The Schafer method has much to
recommend it, owing to its extreme simplicity and the ease with which
the physical operations necessary to carry on artificial respiration may
be performed, hardly any muscular exertion being required. It involves
no risk of injury to the congested liver or to any other organ, and as
the patient is laid face downwards, there is no possibility of the air
passages being blocked by the falling back of the tongue into the
pharynx. The water and mucus can also be expelled much more readily from
the air passages through the mouth and nostrils.

It was due to the happy selection of Professor E. A. Schafer, as
chairman of a committee appointed by the Royal Medical & Chirurgical
Society for the investigation of t