Artificial respiration pumping the breath of life into the lungs of a victim of drowning, suffocation, electric shock or gas poisoning is one of the most vital of all first-aid procedures. Such emergencies are so frequent that it is quite possible to be confronted by one at any time. Mechanical devices do the job the lungs with pure oxygen, but such equipment is seldom available in the desperate three minutes in which the life can still be saved seconds count! Hence, life saving usually depends on some bystander who can perform artificial respiration with his own bare hands.