RESUSCITATION of the newborn infant has been a problem that has commanded the attention of obstetricians, pediatricians, and general practitioners for many years. In 1890, William T. Lusk1discussed life saving methods in still-births at a meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine. Several of the discussants of Lusk's paper on this subject, as well as the author, advocated the aspiration of the trachea and bronchi by means of rubber catheters as a necessary prerequisite to adequate pulmonary ventilation. Various other forms of external stimulation were suggested which are still part of the stock-in-trade of all obstetricians. There was no specific mention of cardiac massage. Galos and Surks in 19572were apparently the first to consider and successfully apply the method of open-chest cardiac massage in newborns. Since then several papers on this subject have appeared.3-6These results have been summarized by Sutherland and Epple7