The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1869-12-11
REMARKABLE ELECTRICAL FEAT.

REMARKABLE ELECTRICAL FEAT.
THE WRONG HEADS STITCHED TRUNKS,
But NO MATTER-THE DEAD-LIvE MEN WALK,
FEELING A LITTLE srIFF-THE srusNINaEsT
STORY THE PERIOD.
A Florence newspaper, II Itazie, ex-
ct ele la Chiryugie Estraagere the fol-
lowing extraordinary history. The Ital-
ian paper, for reasons to be gathered,
does not give implicit credence to this
statement, nor lend it the editorial sane
ton:
On the 18th day of April, in the
prison of Villa Rica (province of Minas
Geraes, in Brazil, two men named Al
veiro and Carines were executed at the
same time. In Brazil executions take
place with closed doors, in the interior of
the prison. DR.. Lorenzo y Carmo, of
Rio Janeiro, well known by savants for
his remarkable works on electricity ap-
piled to physiology, his surgical skili,and
his success in autoplastic operations, OBJ
tanned permission to profit by this event
in order to experiment on the power of
tleClrlClIy, duu lIiuSbFate It's dudlOSJ WIN
some of the phenomena of life.
The numerous experiments heretofore
attempted have been made on the head
and trunk separately. DIR. Lorenzo y.
, Carmo's design was, if possible to unite
the head to the neck after decapitation.
The heads of the two criminals fell within
few minutes of each other in the same
basket first that of Carines, then that of
Alveiro. Immediately after this second
execution compression was effected by
a pupil of DIR. Lorenzo on the carotid
arteries of the heads so as to stop the
hemmorrhage. The body was then placed
on a bed already prepared, and DIR. Lo-
renzo stuck the head as exactly as possi-
BILE on the section and kept it in that po-
sition. The cells of powerful electric
battery were applied at the base of the
neck and on the breast Under this in
fuence, as in former experiments, the
respiratory movements were at once per-
ceptible. As the blood, which penetrated
in abundance through the surface of the
scar, threatened to stop the passage of
air, DIR. Lorenzo had recourse TO traehe-
otomy. Respiration then ensued regu-
larly. The head was fastened to the
body by stitches, and by special appa-
ratus. The psychologist wished to ascer-
tain for how long time this appearance
of life could be thus artifcially main
tanned. His ,astonishment was great
when he saw that at the end of two
hours not only did respiration still con-
tinue under the influence of the electric
current, but that circulation bad even
resumed certain regularity. The pulse
beat feebly but sensibly. The expert
ment was continued without intermission.
At the end of sixty-two hours it was
evident, to. the astonishment of every
one, that a process of cicatrization had
commenced on the lips of the section.
A little later signs of life manifested
themselves spontaneously in the head and
limbs, till then deprived of motion.
AT this moment the director of the
prison arrived for the first time in the
experiment room, observed that by a
singular mistake due to the haste ef the
operation, the head of Carines had been
taken for that of Aveiro, and had been
applied to the body of the latter. The
experiment was continued notwithstand-
ing. Three, days later the respiratory
movements reproduced themselves and
electricity was suppressed. Dr. Lorenzo
I y Carmo and his assistants were stupe-
fed, frightened at the result SO unex-
pected, and at the power of an agent
which, in their hands, had restored life
to body whose right to exist the law
had forfeited
The learned surgeon who had only had
in view simple physiological expert
ment employed all his skill to continue
this work, which science, aided, against
all expectation, by nature, had SO singu-
| larly commenced. He assisted the pro-
cess of cicatrization, which progressed
under the most favorable conditions. BY
means of an esophagian probe, liquid
/ nourishment was introduced into the
stomach. At the end of about three
months the cicatrization was complete,
and motion, though difficult, became
more and more extended. At length, at
/ the end of seven months and half,
Alveiro Carines was able to rise and
/ walk, feeling only slight stiffness in the
neck and a feebleness in the limbs.
A strange story has got abroad in Ed
inburg recently, in regard to an aged
female pauper in the ST. Cuthbert's poor
house The woman has been a member
Of the poor house tor good many years,
and, in addition to her other many mis-
fortunes, she has been afflicted with
blindness. Not long ago she was attack
ed with violent pain, such as the med
cal officers could not understand, far less
relieve 1t lasted the whole of the night
and part of the following day, and was
described as of such a nature that it