The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-05-26
THE DAILY lDlSfAl0n
C4IVANIC EXPERIMENT.

ira, s',1aw;ng description of a galvanic ex
.:..n, with criminal who had been nangea'
: f,o,, the aPortfolo Of an Excitement seek
err" .;,h
.At length one of them got back again WIN
in his circle and said. Wen, wen, hs o.s,
,auork We can tn ok of other things aief'
4aEyery one seemed to regard this as sot'
ofreliet. fhey had got rid of an 'mponuhaIe
tbomsht. and about theii experiment 'hey set
NH zeal. aud doubtless with skill A great
ss.I ,o,k MACE which | did not understand,
srl do moi understand, even now. hey turned
,ha hoJy over aud coUilv carved away WIN
their knives al the back OF 'he necn, anu c'oss
- ,hs base of the skull. l shuddered as l
" W. Cor ,hough the man was dead enough, in
su ,,nsc;enc,. | could not persuade myself
a.. H. ia moi feel. Still and motioniess he
however. as they handled him 80 roughly,
"a here was something very horrible even IN
,hst stiffness. The dali, smoky glare OF the
1amns gave a more hIdeous expression to the
features as they turned him over aud over; aud
the Oppressive atmosphere, together with the
sensations of dread and awe that felt, seemed
almost 10 take IRON me the power OF resDira
ton. Then they filled up the great porcelain
trough that | have mentioned with acids and
water adjusted il properly, let down the me-
,tallic plates into the liquid, and drew some
wires from the battery TO the dead body, in
ser,;ns the end of one of them into the wound
,they had made in the back of the neck. Ii was
an old. and as afterwards found, celebrated
snatomist, who held il in its place with a long
pair of forceps, apparently tipped with glass.
/ had got as near TO the table as | could, and l
saw his hand shake good deal wondered
whether it was with age or agitation, and l
quietly raised my eyes TO his face. Ii was as
pale as that of the corpse and glancirg
round, saw ell the rest, who had gathered
closely about, gazing with straining ewes, and
faces equally white, upon the torn OF dead
man. had hardly dropped my eyes to that
cold, dead counienance again, when sudden
,ouivering twiich passed like flash Ct Light
ming over the muscles Of the cheeks, and the
old surgeons hand shook terribly, but he held
the wire firmly in its place. "A little more
acid he whispered in tones hardly audible,
and Mr.. White ran and poured something out
of a vial into the trough. Suddenly the pro
truded tongue was drawn back into the mouth,
and every one reIreaied a step from the table
in awe and fear, except the old man who held
the wire, aud could see him shut his teeth
hard, and knit his bFows, as II struggling reso-
lutely against the feelings of dread and awe
within him. His eyes seemed starting from
his head; but moment or two after ne said,
almost with gasp-'lt is coming
$50 indeed. it seemed. As thesubtle cur.
rent of unexplained relations poured into the
corpse, ali the features began 10 work convu!,
siyely; the jaw moved; the teeth chartered; the
eyes began 10 roll.
"'My God y cried one.
"'For Heavens sake, STOP exclaimed an,
other.
"'Wait a minute-wait minute. Let US
think : exclaimed third.
81 crept up close 10 the corpse, and almost
touched it; but my heart seemed as if il had
nearly ceased 10 beat,
EVERY one was struck, and could see
the old surgeon was so himself, though he
said nothing, and continued TO hold the wire
hardly conscious, believe, of what he was
doing, but looking more like a stone statue
than n man.
"In the meanwhile, the ghastly contortions
of the face Of the corpse, which the act OF
strangulslon had left, had gradually given
way TO movements . nd expression, c0nvulsiVe,
indeed, bat lnucn more natural. The eyes
still rolled, tut there seemed light in them.
The muscles quivered all over but hardly
more than those of man under strong emo
ton. The corpse seemed TO look at US ; and
the agitation Of all around became ntense.-
Suddenly the knees were drawn up almost 10
the chin the arms raised wildly. One man
darted towards the door and threw il OPEN
The next instant The corpse raised itself sud
denly, and sat upon the table, and dropping
the wire, the old surgeon himself fell faintng
tic the floor.
"Every one else rushed from the room, ex
cept myself and why cid not follow, know
not. bly, feet seemed rooted TO the floor, how
ever. | could not stir; could hardly breathe
"FOr en- instaut-i0r merely an instani-the
dead man SAT there living one; then swayed
heavily backward and forward, and then fell
and rolled over upon the table.
"The spell which held me there seemed dis
solved regainad the use of my limbs, which
had seemed paralyZed and rushing out Of
the room, as the others had done before me,
fastened down the stairs"
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