Death may gather its harvest with impatient slowness or with the suddenness of a second. It is in the latter where life may be saved by rapid, emergency action of those present. But attempt at revival should not be made for all who die, even suddenly. The reviver's judgment, prudence, and insight are necessary during the fleeting seconds when the victim's brain is not yet irreversibly damaged. Cardiac resuscitation was long the domain of those willing to open the chest and massage the heart directly. Because of the restricted personnel and material, this emergency procedure was initially confined to cardiac arrests occurring in the operating theater. But cardiac arrest did not know the boundaries of this area. Highly developed emergency "cardiac arrest" teams with mobile equipment were organized to combate arrest anywhere in the hospital. Simplicity is a catalyst of wide and successful use, and so the search for the