Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1858-10-01

Beats per minute.
In the frtus in utcro, $50 to $50
Newly born infant, l30 to l4o
During the lst year, Is to l3o
During the ID year, 100 to is
Daring the Sd year, 9j to le5
From the 1th to the 18th year, 80 to 90
From the / lth to the lest year, Is to So
From the 2lst to the Goth year, 20 to 10
Old age, 10 to 50
These figures open o wide field for
speculation, especially when coupled
with the differences noticed between the
sexes, the female having greatly the super
iority over the male in respect of frequcn-
cy, her pulse beating from ten to tour
teen times minute beyond that of man.
1t must be remembered, however, that
quick pulse and strong pulse are very
different things. The rate of the pulse
varies at different periods of the day,
gradually diminishing from morning to
night, and notably declining during
sleep. 1t is quickcnel during exercise
and digestion. 1t is slower when we
lie down than when we sit, slower when
we Slt tuIl WucH We stdiu.
Some times since the papers of the U.
States published long and circumstan
tial article about murderer's heart
beating after he was cut down dead from
the scafotd The body of the man was
dissectcd, and the action Of his heart
was shown--it beating distinctly and
regularly for hours after the cutting
down. The following lines attest the
same truth
While on the one hand the pulsations
are not in themselves evidence of life, on
the other hand their cessation is no evil
dence of death, but only one among the
many signs of death. When death
follows on long or painful illness, the
irritabiIity of the heart vanishes almost
with the vanishing breath but if the
decease be sudden, the heart will con-
tinue beating for some time afterward.-
Hairless observed it beating in the body
of a decapitatcd murderer an hour after
the execution. Marco found the right
auricle beating two hours and half
after the execution, although not a trace
of irritability could be detected in she
other parts of the heart. Dietrich, Ger
ZACH, and Herr found that both ventric-
les contracted, if one were irritated forty
minutes after death. Remak observed
the rhythmic contractions in the hearts
of birds and mammals two days after
death; and EN- Rousseau mentions that
woman's heart had these rhythmic
movements seven and twenty hours after
she had been guillotined. 1t is not al
ways, indeed. that the pulsations cease
even when the death has been gradual
Vesalius had terrible experience Of
this. That great anatomist, who had
nobly braved so much odium because he
would not, as his predecessors had done,
content himself with the dissection of
animals, but suffered his scalpel to ira.
verse the complexities ofthc human frame,
one day opened the body of young
nobleman, whose medical attendant he
Lad been. to ascertain, if possible, the
cause Of his death. Imagine the horror
which ran through all present at the
sight Of the heart still equally beating.
Vesalius was accused of having dissect-
ed live man nor was the accusation
unreasonable in those days. lie had to
appear before the Inquisition, and mar
rowly he escaped with his life. A pill
grimagc to the Holy Land was his pun
ishment, but he never outliyel the scan