The humane society movement and the transnational exchange of medical knowledge in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Humane societies emerged in considerable numbers throughout the transatlantic world in the late eighteenth century. These charities promoted innovative methods for resuscitating the apparently drowned, drawing upon advances in the medical understanding of resuscitation and scientific innovations in life-saving techniques. Humane societies constituted a transnational philanthropic movement, in that member societies corresponded with each other and drew upon the work of fellow life-saving charities.