Resuscitation of the drowned in Malta : historical echoes from the past

Abstract

Death studies centering round the problem of apparent death - especially in the drowned - occupied a prominent place in the medicalliterature of the 18th century. This concern gave rise to the formation of humane societies aiming at saving the life of the drowned and of asphyxiated persons who could be mistaken for dead. The first such society was founded in 1767 in Amsterdam where many persons were drowned each year in the canals. It was followed by other societies in subsequent years - Venice (1768), Paris (1771), London (1774) and Philadelphia (1780). Procedures for the reanimation of the drowned were described and applied in Italy from the 17th century onwards as by that time it was realised that the drowned, though showing no manifest signs of life, could have been only apparently dead.