New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-12-06

"a vAiio' Yves Aly Gullus Iva 40 ~ Uy5rtts
great fault to try by suicide to escape from the
trials that God imposes; or even from the in
justice which we receive from society in exchange
for the service we have rendered. God holds us
accountable for the first; as to the second, we {
must ayenge ourselves by contempt, or, what is ]
better, by pardon. +
The old man sighed at these words with 80
much sadness, that it was easy 10 understand !
how bitter was the application Of the words to 4
himself II
.sWhat!" demanded the young man, :" you,
so noble, so generous, 30 learned, have you to
complain of men and of society }"
'sLeave the wound which the hand even Of
friend may not touch, = interrupted the old man
'sCome, let us speak Of your projects now that
you are convalescent. What do you wish to do,
and how can / be useful to you ~
~ should tell you the whole history Of my
life, even if it had secrets, but it is only simple
and ordinary. Twas born at Vienna; my father
was physician, and gained more reputation I
than fortune in its practice. He died poor,
about four years since, leaving my mother no
other resources than the very moderate income
of a small house, his only patrimony, and the /
hope Of obtaining an inheritance in litigation /
at Paris / studsd with Semmering, famous
for his great scientific studies. Nothing would |
haveSbeen wanting to my wishes, had only |
small practice, to live by the product Of my la
Dor, and to marry my cousin Nina, whom l
loved But young physicians have little chance |
of getting either patients or fortune After Q |
year Of useless endeayors, Of vain attempts and
disappointed hopes, my mother ADVISED me TO |
come to Paris. to try to recover the inheritance,
the only chance of rendering my marriage pos
sible. I obeyed. 4 left Vienna. ! came to
Paris. looked into the affair. My rights
were incontestible but it was necessary to adj
vocate them and | had not funds sufficient to
carry on the suit. Furthermore, l was in a
strange country; / knew nobody in Paris, and
was recommended by no one. To these diff
culties others, more adverse, still succeeded.
War was declared against France by Germany,
SO that it was impossible for me to return to my
country and fortunate would / be if my OBJ
security would save me from being arrested and
made a prisoner of war! l lived for come time
by giving lessons in German to some students,
but sickness came on and deprived me of this
last resource. Vanquished, broken almost cra-
zy-you know the rest. l begged, Monsieur,
and had it not been for you would have died
died by suicide! Ny Godp'
&c The name of your father is known to me,
notwithstanding the Ignorance in France Ct the
| great labors Of foreigners know that Med1-
cine and natural history owe important discoy-
cries to him" sg.3s7s
MY father more particularly directed his
4 studies to the nervous system. 1t is owing to
him that the works undertaken by Mojou. Cas-
| tel, Cabanis, Petit and Doctor Sue, were veri-
| fed and completed"
Sc And what was the result Of these works p
That, of all punishments invented by men,
there is none more painful than beheading, re-
| piled the young German.
The Doctor arose as if to master the agitation
he felt, then fell back on his chair and at
tempted to speak; but his lips only muttered
some unintelligible words.
eyes, sir,'' continued the convalescent, my
father had the courage to prove all the expe-
rience of the physicians have just named To
penetrate into the secrets of nature, he went to
the scaffold to examine the heads as they came
from the axe of the executioner; and thus was
convinced that after decollation, the intellect
remains unimpaired, with all its power in the
brain, and without losing any Of its perceptions
He has seen the heads Of criminals, after they
were separated from the trunk, shut their eyes
when exposed to the light. After raising thu
, eyelids, he has assured himself that these head
were sensible to the action of stimulants; tina
the tongue, drawn out and being pricked with ,
needle, was rapidly withdrawn, and the feature
took an expression Of pain. He proved ais
that the organ of hearing retains its faculty
Twice saw, when with him, the heads Of tw
prisoners, decapitated, turn their eyes to tn
side where they were Called!
Z The old man concealed his face with DOT
II hands; he was weeping.
ssMy recital makes you shudder. My fathe
pursued these terrible Investigations only
: refute the French physician who invented tht
cruel instrument of punishment; that instr
IS ment to which, by just ehastisement, his nan
3 remains and will still remain attached-dul
o lotin!'
is The old man arose majestically.
n ssYoung man, said he, mildly. but wit
IL authority, &c leave calumny to the vulgar, an
do not accuse an honest man on account of pop,
n lar and false rumors Guilotin, the Guillotil
1t whom you scorn and your father hated; Gui
y lotin, whose name is only repeated with DISCUS
ovui11 q
'f said, eternally affixed to an instrument Of pun
y ishment, does not merit this contempt, nor tn
l. ignominy Listen attentively, for what a
c going to tell you should be heard and believe
for once at least, by pure and 10y al heart
Z "When the National Assembly were occupi'
in reforming the ancient penal system, thu
proclaimed, as the principal basis of this labo
I'd equality of punishment for all classes of peopl
personality of crimes, whose shame should
ut longer fall upon the family Of the criminal;
e. a word, the abolition of torture and unnecess
n ry torment Guillotin, this Guillotin, who
n. the object of execretion even in your German
for six years pursued the same studies Will
r your father did, and whether erroneous or tru
ng arrived at the totally opposite conviction, Al
Ill substituted beheading for the different punis
ments in use until then, the wheel, the roI
d. and the stake. The nervous movements til
en- feebly agitate the corpse are mechanical, a
to do not proceed from consciousness. Firm
e this CONVICTION, ne oHereu his prOpoSltlon, VIII
H. was unanimously received; nothing remain
re for him but to complete his work, his philos
to phical work, for it was designed to rend
til the last moments of the victims of the law Il
painful He then proposed, as the surest a
an least excruciating, the employment of a machil
In known in Italy by the name of n1andia,
re- scribed by Father Labat, and invented cent
ia turtles ago, as is attested by an old picture
ne the Byzantine school. Such is the crime
lch Guillotin! This is the reason why execrat
ed, has followed him If his whole life was kno
his life, he can say it with just pride
DOR without Flemish or reproach; his life is p
an before God and before men! But, alas he
i'm, known only to be scorned and illuminated
ant ssSince you have heard the justification Of
re- misfortunes, since you no longer detest him
to it not 80, you do not detest him, Monsieur
les you must hear his whole life, SO that you
be- defend him, justify him, and at least one "
lad may be raised in his favor! Born at Sain
of he entered at first, in the capacity of Q Jes
the Irish college at Bordeaux; but life, 9
,ful secrated to such pitiful teaching. soon weal
the him with its confinement and limited room
hy- exertion He therefore abandoned the casst
/, at and came to Paris to pursue his passionate
heir clinaton he felt for the medical SCIENCE OF II
,yer or Il speak here as would speak before Z
ents will not conceal good or evil) that which CT
. ed him really to devote himself to the stud
the surgery, was the desire he felt to relieve
y, as console poor sufferers, and render himself us