The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-09
FOREIGN SCIENCE.
THE eU1LLoTTEr.

Science was entirely devoted to a report dra WI
up by M. Dubois which treated of question:
which cannot fail to excite general interest
viz: Who was the first originator of the guillo
tine? Does this machine produce instantaneoui
death? Does IL create suferlng9 Does life and
sensation exist in the head when once the latter
is severed from the body2 We quote from the
report OF the discu9sion:-
Il is generally believed that the guillotine wa
invented by q French surgeon whose name was
Guillotln. This, however, appears 10 be an
error, iDasmuch as the first originator of the
idea seems to have been a surgeon of the name
of Louis. 1t would in fact, appear, according
20 the revelations which have been made by
this learned BODY, that in 1892 DR.. Louis. Sec
retary TO the Faculty of Surgery, directed q
German mechanic OF the name OF Smith to con-
struct machine, with which he made ex-
periments on the dead bodies issuing from the
hospital at Blcetre. But by giving the knife an
Oblique direction, he accomplished the decapt
tatioI of heads with wonderful rapidity. The
hTst time the sentence of death was carried
out by means of the gHillotlne was on the 25th
Of April, 1892. The criminal was highwayman.
The first execution OF a political prisoner by
this means took place on the 2lst OF August of
the same year. From that memorable night the
gullotine was kept so constantly at work
that in July, 1894, the difficulty was to find
means of disposIng of the corpses OF It's
victims. 1t only took thirty one minutes to
decapiate the twenty-one Gtrlnttsts whom
non TO doom to DEATH The question M. Dubois
treated is one OF extreme interest. He inquiries,
Can life exist for any length OF time IN the head
after 1t has been severed from the bodyY When
this subject was first investigated, belief pre-
vailed that decapitation caused atrocious suffer
ing. Sammeranz asserted that as the soul ex-
listed in the head, the agonles endured mus5 be
frlghtful; he maintained that the sensations
were not only physical but moral, aud in proof
OF this theory quoted the story of Charlotte
COrday having blushed when the eXecutioner
struck her cheek. Professor Sue went still
further, and asserted that pain was telt, not in
the head alone, but in the trunk and limbs. NJ
Dubois does not admit the possibility of suffer.
ing after decapltation. He writes thus:-"Every
circumstance tends to the conviction that the
victim neither experiences pain during nor after
decapitation by the guillotine. say everything
conuuces to this belief as necessarily we
can have no proof on the subject" Several
physlologlsts, however, differ from this opinion.
Putting aside all theoretical considerations we
may say that very exact experiments appear
TO demonstrate that decaptated ANIMAL ex-
perlenCe sensation and suffer during several
minutes after their heads have fallen beneath
the butchers axe. Experiments were made
about thirty years ago in the shambles of Paris
under the superlDlendenCe of the cOnSeryQtely'
He gave it as his opinion that death by means
OF the 0low OF an iron club produced intense
pain, and he wished to ascertain whether de-
capltanon would cause a less degree of suffer-
ing. Experiments were made on a hundred |
cows and on an equal number of calves and |
sheep, and proved that the suffering after de- |
captatlon was great. During the first minute |
aftec execution the facial muscles were agitated |
oy 1rlghttEi convulsions, the mouth alternately |!
opened ana closed, the respiratory organs Of the
e race worked, and the animal appeared to expe- !
rience intense agony, and an imperative desire
TO breathe. On placing finger within an inch
And a half OF The eye, it suddenly closed and
opened again, Therefore, the animal distinctly
perceived Che approach OF a hand to its eye.
At the end OF a few seconds these phenomena
oil rhnr DrnTa ilyau
made experiments on the animals in the Paris
and also recognized that the death o.
the brain did not occur ior three or $our
minutes. Doctors who have had the opportu-
nifty OF examining The heads of decapitated
animals assert the same phenomena.
UIsrNFECTANTs.
The C0n,te Copsuhot,f u Hyqjene has addressed
& report to the Minister Of the Interior on the
substances and processes in use in
the hospitals, especially during epidemlcs. NJ
Dumas, the reporter, places ammonia, chloride
Of lime, and picnic acid at the head of the list
Of disinfectants, considering them as special
agents for purifying the air. Regarding unven-
tilated cholera wards, the only precaution he
presCribes Is merely that Of disinecting the air;
but if the wards be provided with ventilators, it
is necessary to prevent the miasmata from
spreading; for, when drawn IN oY the Yentl,
whence they get into the atmosphere,
and SO might cause infection outside of the
hospital. M. Dumas therefore, to prevent
this, recommends that vessels containing
placed-First, on the floor OF the ward near
the oriices of inspiration. Second, in the alb
duction pipe itself, so tar as practicable. And
third, in the interior of the general chimney
where all the pipes meet When choeraic
patient has died, picnic acid is sprinkled all
around the bed; In the coffin the body rests on
chloride of lime, and the remainder OF the
space is filed with sawdust impregnated with
picnic acid. Lastly, when the coffin is placed
in the grave, and the latter partly filled uD, a
layer OF chloride OF lime is spread all over, and
moistened with watering-pot; the grave is
then completely filled up, and chloride OF lime
again sprlnkled upon it, but this time without
Wetting 1t.
NJ. lie Verrier has announced TO the Academy
of Sciences that M. Leon FouCaults discovery
of the property which silver leaf possesses of
weakening the rays of the sun has been tried
at the Observatory with perfect success. The
establishment possesses an equatorial, the tele-
scope of which can receive an object glass of
twenty-five centimetres diameter. 1t so hap
pened that NJ. Secretan, the optician, had an
obiectglass of the diameter, and which, though
not finished was sufficiently far advanced to be
OF some use This was an excellent opportunity
for testing the value of the invention, without
interrupting the course of daily observation.
NJ. Secretan lent the Objectglass, which, beng
covered with silver leaf was found, as stated, to
weaken the glare sufficiently TO allow OF its
being observed with impunity, and also TO
diminish the heat which often accnmulates in
the instrument to such an extent as to crack
the glasses. The sun appears of a lightblue
tint, and every detail of its surface may be
minutely examined. Mr.. Wolf has found that
the light which passes through the silver con-
tains nearly all the rays of the spectIm except