ia of the lungs. Hope
of restoring respiration should not be abandoned for half an hour at
least. One of the author's assistants, Dr. Phillip Stout, saved a
patient's life by keeping up artificial respiration for twenty minutes
before the patient could do his own breathing.

The _after-care_ of the tracheotomic wound is of the utmost
importance. A special day and night nurse are required. The inner tube
of the cannula must be removed and cleaned as soon as it contains
secretion. Secretion coughed out must be wiped away quickly, but
gently, before it is again aspirated. The gauze dressing covering the
wound must be changed as soon as soiled with secretions from the wound
and the air-passages. Each fresh pad should be moistened with very
weak bichloride of mercury solution (1:10,000). The outer tube must be
changed every twenty-four hours, and oftener if the bronchial
secretion is abundant. Student-physicians who have been taught my
methods and who have seen the cases in care of our nurses have often
expressed amazement at the neglect unknowingly inflicted on such cases
elsewhere, in the course of ordinary routine surgery. It is not
unusual for a patient to be sent to the Bronchoscopic Clinic who has
worn his cannula without a single changing for one or two years. In
some cases the tube had broken and a portion had been aspirated into
the trachea.

[FIG. 108.--Method of dressing a tracheotomic wound. A broad
quadruple, in-folded pad of gauze is cut to its centre so that it can
be slipped astride of the tube of the cannula back of the shield. No
strings, ravellings or strips of gauze are permissible because of the
risk of their getting down into the trachea.]

If the respiratory rate increases, instead of attributing it to
pulmonary complications, the entire cannula should be removed, the
wound dilated with the Trousseau forceps, the interior of the trachea
inspected, and all secretions cleaned away. Then the tracheal mucosa
below the wound should be gently touched with a sterile bent probe, to
induce cough to rid the lower air passages of accumulated secretions.
In many cases it is a life-saving procedure to insert a sterile long
malleable aspirating tube to remove secretions from the lower
air-passages. When all is clear, a fresh sterile cannula which has
been carefully inspected to see that its lumen has been thoroughly
cleaned, is inserted, and its tapes tied. Good "plumbing," that is,
the maintenance at all times