The Sun.
London, England, 1823-10-09 00:00:00

" r WILLIAM PETTY," said EVELYN, " was!
the son of a mean manisomewhere in Sussex, and;
sent from school to Oxon, where he studied
losophy, but was most eminent in mathematicsi
and mechanics ; preceded Doctor of Physic, and
was grown famous as for learning, so for his
recovering a poor wench that had been hanged
for felony ; 'and her body having been begged (a s
the custom is) for the anatomic lecture, he bled
her, put her to bed to a warm woman, and, with
spirits and other means, restored lleflo life. The
young scholars joined, and gave her a little por-
tion, and married her to a man, who had se-
veral children by her, she living fifteen years
after, as I have been assured." Many other
experiments have, been performed in this coun-
try and abroad on the bodies of criminals
soon after their execution. Among the most MP"
`morable of an early date were those of Vassali,
Julio, and Rossi, at Turin ; but the bodies on
which they were made were decapitated, .and
the object of 'them did' not extend beyond the
determination of a question then much disputed,
whether galvanic electricity has any effect on the
Iteart and other inVoluntary muscles after death?
Some of the more recent experiments, however,
have aimed at a point much higher---eVen the re-
storation of life itself ; or, to speak more proper-
ly, the object has been to see how far the gal-
vanic influence, when exertetl to the utmost,
could reach. The last experiment of the kind,
which, in the judgment of many scientific gen-
tlemen who witnessed it, was perhaps the most
striking ever made with a philosophical ap-
paratus, %l as performed by Dr. Ure, of. Gas-
gow, on the body of a man executed for mur-
der, The body had been suspended from the
gallows'nearly an hour ; had made no convulsive
struggle on being cast off; was brought to the
anatomical theatre of the University in about ten
minutes after'it was cut down ; the face had a
perfectly natural aspect, being neither livid nor
tumefied, and there was no dislocation of the neck.
The voltaic battery with which Dr. Ure proceed-
ed to operate consisted of '270 pairs of `, four-inch
plates. The successive effticts of the applicatinn,
whiCfCare jititljr designated by Dr. Ure as "truly
wonderful," are thus detailed.:—.

•
1 "In the first experiment ever), muscle of the body was
immediately agitated with convulsive movements, resemb-
ling a violent shuddering from cold. On moving one of the rods
from the hip to.the heel, the knee being Previously bent, the leg
I was thrown out with such, violence as nearly to overturn one‘of
lithe assistants, who in vain attempted to 'prevent its extension.
!flit the second eXpe.rlifi
eiii,'Rill, nay laboritais, breathing was
,
I produced" The.: tatest heaved and fell ; the belly was pro-
' traded, and again 'Mtn-Pied, with the relaxing and retiring din-
phragm. In the_ third, every muscle of the countenance was
simultaneously thrown into fearful action ; rage, horror, de-
.spair, anguish, aiul ghastly smiles, united their hideous ex-
airession in the dead man's face, surpassing far the wildest re-
'presentations of a Fuseli or a Kean. At this period seve-
ral of the spectators were forced to leave the apartment frol:knei
terror or sickness, and •one Gentleman fainted. In the last
experiment the fang re Were made: to•' move nimbly,
those of a violin performer : an as:,isiant, who tried to close the
lis found,tho 1»dto open foreilolyi nod in spite of his efforts.
1 en one rod was applied to a slight incision in the tip of.
fli elinger, the fiStlemg previoutily clenched, that finger ex-
ip,
tended instantly ; and .from the convulsive agitation of the
arm, he seemed to point to the different spectators, some of
whom thoughs be had dome to life. !" In deliberating," says
1)r. Ure, " on the_above galvanic, phenomena, • we are almost
ivilling to imagine that if, lvithout cutting into frulwouncling
the spinal marrovr and blood-Veisels in the neck, the pulmon-
ary organs had been set a-playing at first (as I proposed) by
electrifying the phrenic ,rierve, there: is 4 probability that life
Might have been restored. „ This event, howev.r little dosirable
tvith a nitirdefer,: an perhaps contrary to law, weitlil• r have
been pardonable in one instance, as it would hay e been h
rable and useful to science." ighly-
honou ,
,•
ye