Surgery

IN view of the increasing popularity of underwater swimming in this country it surely behoves every practising doctor to acquaint himself with the special hazards of this sport and the treatment of their consequences. An understanding of respiratory physiology and the alteration in normal mechanisms which takes place in such altered conditions is a vital part of this knowledge, especially since preventive measures have more chance of success if based on sound physiological principles. In a recent article' Albert Craig quotes the figure 7000 for the number of deaths from drowning occurring each year in the United States of America; this figure immediately inspires some mental arithmetic on the part of the Australian reader. Craig investigates the sequence of events in a number of experienced swimmers who lost consciousness under water, and postulates this as an explanation for many unexplained drowning accidents.