Fifth:  Again exert pressure straight over the lowest ribs for three seconds.  Alternate thus (three seconds pressure and two seconds release), about twelve times a minute, until breathing is restored.  This method of resuscitation at once expels water and produces the identical results of normal breathing.

Sixth:  If another person is at hand to assist, let him do everything possible to keep the body warm, by sheltering it from the wind, rubbing hands and soles of feet, making hot applications.  Warm the head nearly as fast as the other parts of the body to avoid congestion.  Camphor or ammonia may be applied to nostrils to excite breathing.

Seventh:  Do not give up too soon.  Any time within two hours you may be on the point of reviving the patient without there being any sign of it.  Send for a physician as soon as possible after the accident.  Prevent friends from crowding around the patient and excluding fresh air.

After-treatment.—­After breathing is restored, remove the patient to a warm bed where there is free circulation of fresh air.  Administer in small doses stimulants (hot coffee, ginger tea, hot sling) being careful not to let the patient choke or strangle.  There is danger that the patient may suffer congestion of the lungs and have great difficulty in breathing.  When this occurs, a large mustard plaster should be placed over the lungs.

How to keep from drowning.—­To keep from drowning it is advisable, but not necessary, to know how to swim.  The human body in the water weighs little more than a pound; so that one finger placed upon a piece of board, an oar or a paddle, will easily keep the head above water, and the feet and the other hand can be used to propel the body toward the shore.  It is all important for the person in the water to breathe and keep a cool head, and the mouth closed.

[400 Mothers’ remedies]

How to find drowned persons.—­Make a board raft, ten or twelve feet square.  Cut a round hole in the center, eight or ten inches in diameter.  Lie down on the raft with the face over the hole, covering the head with a coat or shawl, to exclude the light.  By this contrivance the rays of the light are concentrated directly under the raft, and objects of any size can be seen a considerable distance below the surface.  Tow the raft over the place where the drowned person is supposed to be.  If the body has just gone under and no raft can be provided at once, dive or drag the bottom with line and hooks.  The important object is to rescue the body at the earliest possible moment.  If the body is not rescued, it will rise to the surface within a week or ten days.

Three hundred lives are lost in Michigan every year from drowning.  If by studying and learning how to carry out the directions in this article, you can be a life saver at some critical moment, the few moments spent in careful reading will be well repaid.  Master the directions so that you will be able to do everything possible in case of accident.