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History
Sign showing old Silvester and Holger-Nielson methods of resuscitationCPR has
been known in theory, if not practice, for many hundreds or even thousands of
years; some claim it is described in the Bible, discerning a superficial
similarity to CPR in a passage from the Books of Kings (II 4:34), wherein the
Hebrew prophet Elisha warms a dead boy's body and "places his mouth over his".
In the 19th century, doctor H. R. Silvester described a method (The Silvester
Method) of artificial respiration in which the patient is laid on their back,
and their arms are raised above their head to aid inhalation and then pressed
against their chest to aid exhalation. The procedure is repeated sixteen times
per minute. This type of artificial respiration is occasionally seen in films
made in the early part of the 20th century.
A second technique, called the Holger Neilson technique, described in the first
edition of the Boy Scout Handbook in the United States in 1911, described a form
of artificial respiration where the person was laid on their front, with their
head to the side, and a process of lifting their arms and pressing on their back
was utilized, essentially the Silvester Method with the patient flipped over.
This form is seen well into the 1950s (it is used in an episode of Lassie during
the Jeff Miller era), and was often used, sometimes for comedic effect, in
theatrical cartoons of the time (see Tom and Jerry's "The Cat and the Mermouse").
This method would continue to be shown, for historical purposes, side-by-side
with modern CPR in the Boy Scout Handbook until its ninth edition in 1979.
However it wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that the wider medical
community started to recognise and promote it as a key part of resuscitation
following cardiac arrest. Peter Safar wrote the book ABC of resuscitation in
1957. In the U.S., it was first promoted as a technique for the public to learn
in the 1970s.
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