Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1841-04-24

the attention of medical men. The
following are series of very interesting
experiments made by gentleman, ma
med Halse, to test the power Of Galvan-
ism in cases Of suspended animation
from drowning.
"On Thursday last one Of ny spa>
niels whelped, having litter of thirteen,
six of which / took for my experiments.
| drowned three Of them in cold water,
and kept them immersed for fifteen mi.
nutes. at which time | took them from
the bucket, and placed them in front OF
a good fire. No motion could be per-
ceived in either Of them. ! then put
the front legs Of one of them in a jar
containing warm solution of salt and
water, and its hindlegs in a similar jar,
in each Of which was inserted one pole
Of the galvanic battery; the whole were
then placed near the fire.
The position of the dog being now
favorable for operating on, without the
necessity of making any incisions in the
flesh, passed very strong shock
through its body; 1t moved its hind
legs. gave it another shock, which
caused its tail also to move. | now
passed twenty shocks in qnick success
sion through its body; it moved every
limb, its mouth opened, and / was incl.
ned to believe that the dog had actually
come to life; but the moment | ceased
passing the shocks the dog was as mos
tionless as it was previous to my cons
mencement. Again / continued the
shocks, and | noticed that there was
more motion in the limbs. Considering
that, in proportion to the return of the
sensibility, these shocks would he too
powerful for it. ! decreased the intensi-
ty OF them, and passed many hundreds
in rapid succession. / continued this
for about five minutes. the motion of
the limbs increasing as the shocks in
creased in number. Inow ceased; the
dog still moved; 1t was restored to life.
placed it on warm flannel in front Of
the fire, and in very short time it ap>
peared as well as it was previous 10 its
being drowned it crawled on the flan.
mel, and made the no,se peCunar 10
young dogs.
Inow examined the two other dogs
which were drowned and taken from
the water at the same time this one was.
They were both dead--a plain proof
that it was entirely owing TO the galva-
mic fluid that life was restored. The
other three dogs l drowned in warm
water, and kept them immersed for for
ty minutes, at which time all motion
had ceased. Two of them had in from,
of the fire, and the remaining one | pla-
ced in the jars, as in the preceding ex'
pertinent. / now passed shock ol
weak intensity through the body, but nc
motion was perceptible. | therefore
increased the intensity of them consi'
derably, and gave the shocks in quick
succession. Every limb moved, the
belly protracted and again collapsed
and the head was raised. At this pc
riod l stopped passing the shocks, ir
order to see if there was any motion ii
the dog, when not under the galvanio
infuence---there was none. | agair
proceeded with the shocks, and having
noticed that the limbs moved more ra'
pidly than before, considered il neces
sary TO decrease the intensity and in
crease the quantity of electric fluid
which ! did, SO much as TO perceive ;
slight tremor in the dog. Icontinued il
. this manner for about five minutes, a
which time removed it from the jars
, and placed il on the table. Ir WAS A
LIVE. In a quarter Of an hour it ap
peared to be perfectly recovered. Th
E other dogs (Which were not allowed t
, get cold during the whole of the expert
: menD were examined; no emotion wha,
I, ever could be perceived. ] tried tn
effect of galvanism on one of these.
was successful. In one hour after thi
: operated on the other dog also, but
was in vain. There was no vigor re
4 naming in the vital powers; life ha
: fed"