Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-02-15
Curious Physiological Discussion

Curious Physiological Discussion
The following paragraph, says the Augusta
Constitutionalist, will excite 4 new and start
ling INTEREST," in the minds OF those familiar with
bloody romances Of history. The theory is
/, not q new one, but the discussion has recently
been revived, aud is now exciting renewed in
tercst in the medical profession.
The dreadful orgies of the French Revolu.
ton must have furnished cases enough to have
~attestet, beyond cayil, the truth or talsity OF
the theory, for it is stated that enc hundred and
fifty decapita,ions a day was considered, at one
time, during the sway Of Robcsrierre, the least
number of victims tlmt State necessity and pub
lie order required. Among the names of the
investigators of the theory that conscious.
ness exists after dccapitation, occurs that OF the
inventor of the Guillotine, and who gives name
to it. If the fact be true that the head feels after
it is cut off, his invention which was 7 substi-
tutc for the barbarous hacking Of the headman's
axe, and prompted by a humane desire to pre-
vent pain, measurably failed in its benevolent
purpose:
How MAN FEELS WITH HIS HEAD Orr
| Some of the most eminent Psychologists OF the
| present day, have lately been argumentlng the
| very curious question as to whether 1 man feels
| after his head is off. And this inquiry is con-
| sidered bv its conductors to be OF more than
| physiological interest, because it involves 4 re-
fined principle of humanity with regard to the
punishment of death by the yuillotime.
1t is considered on all sides that the body
| does not feel one instant after decapitatlon: for
| the brain being the seat OF sensation tor the
whole frame, through the medium OF the spinal
marrow every part of the body beneath the
| Joint at which the latter may be divided, must
| be deprived of feeling. But it by no means fol-
lows that the head is deprived Of sensation i'm
mediately after decapitation, nor that it may not
| retain consciousness, and like. the head of tn.
| Irish Knight, who was killed hv Saladin in the
holy war, get up and declare that it never was
cut off by SO sweet 4 scimetar beforc-nor like
that of the assassin Legare, swear rpundly at
the executioner for not keeping a kecner axe !;
but it is possible that it may be troubled with
very serious reflections upon the irrcvocabllity
of its fate and the awfulness Of its depriya-
ton.
In support of this unpleasant theory, many
facts are adduced with grave vouchers for their
authenticity. Among others, is the unfortunate
Queen of Scots, whose lips confined to move
in PRAYER for at least 4 quarter of an hour after
the executioner had performed his duties
Windt states that having put his mouth to the
ear of q decapitated criminals head, and called
him by name, the eyes turned to the side from
whence the voice came; and this fact is attested
by Fontenello, Mogore, Guillotine, Nauche, and
Aldina. On the word murder being called, in
the case of the criminal executed for that crime
at Coblentz, the halfclosed eye opened wide
with an expression of reproach on those who
stood around. 81
This is recorded in the Medical Gazette for
April last but. whether it is believed OF not, we
see nothing e~ithcrinstheory or recorded fact to
lessen the physiological possibility 0 Unconscious
ness after decapitation. In diseases and dislo-
cations Of the spinal marrow. the mind remains
in full possession of its faculties, although the
lower limbs are utterly devoid offeeling; and at
what pointo of separation are w justified in say
ing that the mind must loose its rational pow
ers! If the brain retain the images Of vision
and the forms of touch, long after the object
which created them are withdrawn, why may
we not suppose that it retains them after a
sudden operation ofthe axe or guillotines Like
the thigh of an amputated leg, which feels its
toes for days, and even weeks after operation,
it may remain in imaginary possession Of all its
corporal members, until the curtains of oblivi-
on are gathered around its fading vision and
sinks to, repose in the chamber of death.