The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-05-07
From the brighton (Eng) Herald Of March Sd.
LIFE RESTORED BY GALVANISM.

Galvanism was resorted to as a means of re-
| storing the unfortunate Scott, the diver, and
though unsuccessful in that particular instance
the vital spark having hed--its application in
cases OF suspended animation, particularly from
drowning, possesses strong claims 10 the atten-
ton OF medical men. The following are a Sc
ries Of very interesting experiments made by
gentleman named Halse, to test the power of
galvanism IN cases OF suspended animation from
drowning:
"On Thursday last one of my spaniels whelp-
ed, having a litter of thirteen six of which I
took for my experiment. ! drowned three of
n hs II S Sa gassr a kiR Mah f ld
the bucket, and placed them in front of good
fire. No motion could be perceived in either Of
them. then put the front legs of one of them
in jar containing a warm solution of salt and
water, and its hind legs in similar jar, in each
of which was inserted one pole of the galvanc
battery, the whole were then placed near the
fire.
The position Of the dog being now favorable
for operating on without the necessity ofmaking
any missions in the flesh. ] passed very
strong shock through Its body; il moved its hind
legs. gave it another shock which caused its
tail also to move. now passed twenty shocks
in quick succession through its body; it moved
every limb, its mouth opened; and was inclin-
ed 10 believe that the dog had actually come to
iilc uut tuC tuOulcut CedScu passing tHS
the dog was as motionless as il was previous 10
my commencement. Again | continued the
shocks, and noticed that there was more mo-
ton in the limbs. Considering that, in proper
ton TO the return of the sensibity, these shocks
would be too powerful for it, decreased the in
tensity of them, and passed many hundreds in
rapid succession. / continued this for about five
minutes; the motion Of the limbs increasing as
the hooks increased in number. i now ceased;
the dog still moved; it was restored to life. |
placed it on a warm flannel in front of the fire,
and in very short time il appeared as well as it
was previous TO its being drowned il crawled on
the flannel and made the noise peculiar to young
dogs
| | now examined the two other dogs which
were drowned and taken from the water at the
same time this one was. They were both dead
Ia plain proof that it was entirely owing to the
galvanic fluid that life was restored. The other
three dogs drowned in warm water, and kept
| them immersed for forty minutes, at which time
| all motion had ceased. Two of them laid in
| front of the fire, and the remaining one placed
in the jars as in the preceding experiment. !
now passed shock Of weak intensity through
the body, but no motion was perceptible.
therefore increased the intensity of them con-
siderably, and gave the shocks in quick success
sion. Every limb moved, the belly protracted
and again collapsed, and the head was raised.
| AT this period stopped passing the shocks, in
order TO see if there was any motion in the dog,
when not under the golvanic influence there
and having noticed that the limbs moved more
rapidly than before, considered it necessary to
decrease the intensity and increase the quantity
of electric fluid, which did, so much as to per-
ceive slight tremor in the dog. Icontnued in
this manner for about five minutes, at which
time removed il from the jars, and placed i on
| the table Ii was alive. In a quarter OF an
/ h., q, ~ ho pprlacfly recovered The
other dogs (Which were not allowed TO get cold
during the whole of the experiment. were exa-
mined-no motion whatever could be perceived.
tried the effect of galvanism on one OF these.
was successful. In one hour after this ope-
rated on the other dog also, but it was in vain.
There was no vigor remaining in the vital pow
ers life had fed"