GIRL'S LIFE SAVED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 14

GIRL'S LIFE SAVED

TRIUMPH FOR SCIENCE artificial respirator FORTNIGHT IN MACHINE SEQUEL TO DIPHTHERIA [from oitr OWN- correspondent] MELBOURNE. Aug. 21 After responding to more than a fortnight's continual treatment in the Drinker artificial respirator at the Children's Hospital, Melbourne, following complications which arose from diphtheria, Kubv Currie, aged six, has been able to leave the machine, which created artificial breathing for the {•irl. The strngglo to save Ruby s life held the interest of the medical profession and general public throughout Australia. Doctors never gave up hope that the machine, which is the only one of its kind in Melbourne, would enable the girl to regain normal health. It was only with extreme difficulty that Ruby could draw breath when she was removed from the Fairfield Hospital to the Children's Hospital for respirator treatment. But for artificial respiration she would almost certainly have suffocated. At first, she coniided to her mother, the huge "box" with its gleaming white enamel paint and glittering steel fittings frightened her. But that was only for a day or so. "This is a swell bed, Mummy. It's so comfortable to lie in. It doesn t hurt me even a little bit to breathe when I'm in it," she told her mother, after two days had elapsed. "From then on Ruby really seemed to like the respirator," Mrs. Currie said. "I used to joke about it with her and say she was nurse's favourite for, being able to sleep in such a handsome bed. And she would laugh and tell me that none of the other little boys and girls were lucky enough to have such a fine bed, with white and silver trappings, and so many doctors and nurses to look after them." To entertain the child, the doctor in charge of the case would place her on her left side and then on her right side for alternating periods. Lying on her left side, she had an unobstructed view of the street and its many passers-by, and soon she had made firm friends with a number of school children and municipal workers, who would stand by the window and wave to her. ,

The artificial stimulation of breath by the reduction of atmospheric pressure on the chest and abdomen is the secret of the Drinker artificial respirator. FAMILIAR LANDMARK " THE MILL ON THE FLOSS" CHIMNEY DEMOLISHED [from ouk own correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON. Aug. 3 A familiar Lincolnshire landmark, the chimney attached to the Old Mill on the east bank of the River Trent at Gainsborough, has been demolished, writes the Spalding correspondent of the Times. A row of cottages, which formerly housed the mill staff and their families, has also been removed, and the next step in clearing the site is the demolition of the mill itself. This is the mill about which George Eliot wrote in "The Mill on the Floss." At one time there was a rivulet running past and discharging into the Trent, on one of whose banks the mill stands. When George Eliot wrote her book she stayed for some time at a house near by. The mill itself is now in a dangerous condition. When the chimney was felled half the side was ripped off. BLAZING LAUNCH MAN DIVES INTO HARBOUR SWIM TO THE SHORE A young man named Paul Burton, living at Hunter's Hill, saved his life recently by diving from a blazing launch into Sydney Harbour and swimming 200 yards to a rocky beach. Mr. Burton's hobby out of work hours was his 18-foot speed launch Czardas. He spent an afternoon testing the engine, and shortly after sixo'clock was between Bradley's Head and Clifton Gardens. The engine backfired, and the carburetter and woodwork burst into flames. Mr. Burton saw the fire racing toward the petrol tank. He tried to put out the flames by dashing handfuls of water from the harbour over the carburetter, but the fire had too firm a hold. It resisted his efforts, and the launch was soon a mass of flames. Burton dived overboard.

"I was terribly afraid of sharks," Mr. Burton said, "but it was better than being burnt alive." He swam about 200 yards to the shore, and landed among the rocks. The launch was burning fiercely, and drifting shoreward. Then there was a terrific explosion. Part of the blazing wreckage of the launch was tossed into the air, and the boat sank deeper into the water. Mr. Burton ran to the fishermen's cottages at Taylor Bay, but found no one thero. However, Mr. Short, a park ranger at Bradley's Head, who had heard the explosion, came to his aid. Volunteers assisted him in an attempt to salvage what remained of the launch. The timbers were still smoking when the launch was being dragged toward the beach, but it sank in a few feet of water. It was valued at about £2OO, and became a total loss. MARRIAGE TO SHEIK ITALIAN BEAUTY'S CHOICE A beautiful Italian woman living in London has renounced her religion and become a Mohammedan in order to marry a sheik. She is Armida Giajo, thirty-year-old daughter of Professor Edoardo Giajo, the Italian artist who lives in England. Her bridegroom-to-be is Sheik Abdul Hamid, thirty-six-year-old son of an Indian chieftain, and the first Indian to become a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Professor Giajo has given his consent to the marriage, and his daughter has now gone to Pome to receive her mother's blessing. She met her sheik four years ago. "It is a tremendous step for my daughter to take," said Professor Giajo, " but her life is her own. She has embraced Islam for the sake of her love for Sheik Abdul Hamid. 1 have given my consent to their marriage because I believe their love for each other is very great." Professor Edoardo Giajo has exhibited at the Royal Academy on three occasions.