Resuscitatives: Sprinkle the face with cold water; put the whole body up to the neck, if convenient, in the earth-bath, where it should be kept for several hours, till certain signs of returning life appear: or expose the subject, if robust, to the influence of the shower-bath; apply cold poultices to the head; cloths dipped in vinegar to the pit of the stomach; and gentle friction, which should be resorted to, alternately, with the sprinkling of cold water, from the beginning of the process; at first with great caution, over the lower extremities, and gradually extending it upwards to the left side of the body.
In particular cases, where the means before stated prove ineffectual, it will be advisable to open a vein, or to electrify the patient, by directing the shocks through the breast, so that this fluid may pervade the heart.—Meanwhile, pure air may be blown into the lungs (see vol. ii. p. 190); and, if anxiety appear to prevail, blisters should be applied to the chest.
When signs of returning life become evident, the mode of treatment before pointed out, must be continued for some time, though with great moderation. The cloths applied to the pit of the stomach, should now be dipped in wine, or warm vinegar; common poultices applied to the injured parts; and emollient clysters may be occasionally given.—Lastly, when the patient is able to swallow, a mixture of wine and water, or balm-tea, may be safely administered.
Dr. Franklin suggests to those persons, who are apprehensive of danger from lightning, the propriety of sitting in the middle of a room on one chair, and to lay their feet on another; provided they be not placed beneath a metal lustre suspended from the ceiling by a chain. He farther observes, that it is still safer to fold two or three mattresses or beds in the middle of an apartment, and to place the chairs upon them; for, as the former do not conduct lightning so readily as the wall, the flashes cannot penetrate their substance.—But the most secure place, in his opinion, is a hammock, suspended by silken cords, in the centre of a room.—The curious reader, who wishes to obtain farther information respecting electrical meteors, will be amply gratified, by perusing Dr. Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity (4to. 1769, 10s. 6d.); and Dr. Priestley's History of Electricity, 4to. in which this interesting subject is perspicuously treated.
The effects of lightning are frequently not less fatal to vegetable productions. Wheat-plants are peculiarly susceptible of this injury; and Mr. Tull is of opinion, that not only their health is thus greatly impaired, but also their immediate decay, is thereby often occasioned. Such consequences, he observed, were evident from the black spots or patches in a field of corn, especially in those summers which were visited by frequent thunder storms: and he adds, that there is no remedy against this evil.
Forest-trees, in particular, experience similar blasts; and, on sawing them, numerous instances have occurred, in which they were found cracked, split, or otherwise mutilated by lightning.—Dr. Darwin conjectures that vegetables are affected by this meteor in a manner similar to that, when their succulent shoots are frozen; that is, their vessels burst, as the lightning
