, 1873-05-25
WHEN, THEN, DO WE DIE ?

| Since the latter end OF the eighteenth century,
! when Bichat wrote his wonderful treatise Re
cherches Physiologiques Sur La Pie ct La Mort,
| psychologists have added thousand fold to our
] knowledge Of the phenomena Of life, but, until
recently scarcely one jot Or one little to correct
perception Of DEATH Ono, however, is so mex
tricably allied to the other that scientific ap-
prehension Of life, it's energies and suffsrings,
can not even be hoped for without correspond
/ ing examination OF physical dissolution. And
this word dissolution we use with authority, for
Liebnizs doctrine Of death is as Justly celebrated
| as his theory Of LIFE Llebniz, in his celebrated
! letter to Arnauld, held that birth is nothing
but the development or evolution OF q lv-
ing being already formed, and that corruption or
death is similarly nothing but the involution OF
the same living entity, even in what We call
death, preserving and maintaining it's pristine
vitality. Thus, according to this eminent thinker,
| life and death are merely changes in the order
| and harmony Of the living body, and consequent
| II death mere dissolution Of the ties OF Sc
! called human life Bichat went step beyond
| this, or rather, perhaps, gave ua less meta-
physical conception Of the idea OF the great Ger
| man. He conaidered the brain, the heart, and
lungs as species Of vital tripod, and endeav-
ored to ASCERTAIN how far the death OF one or the
! other Of these great organs influenced or detor-
mined tho collapse of the remaining functions Of
| the body.
. Very recently Bchst's Investigations have been
! pursued to still further point, the distinction
betwcen organic death aud apparent death has
been still more broadly drawn, and recent ex-
| pariments have proved beyond a doubt that death
| does not attack life with single stroke as it
| wore with sword-blAde, but that member dies
after member. that function loses it's vitali-
| ty after another, and moro strangely still, it
| seems ominent1y probable that even after decap-
| itation the trunk1ess head can for time be re-
| stored to sentient life. The resemblance be-
tween sleep and death, that relationship Of which
all poets from Homer and Virgil to Mrs. Hemans
and Shelley have sung, has been proved in
manner even their intuition could scarcely have
dreamed Of. In sleep one sense fades away COM
pletely before another ls affected The eyes
are eightless long before the ears have ceased to
hear aud the nil power is lost while tho inaag-
iusttun remains in full activity. It ls the same
in that living death which, in spite Of A. Gus
tave Flonrans, extreme old age generally resem-
becomes insensib1e to sound, the touch 1s
blunted, perfumes lose their flagrancy, the eye
is darkened, and the taste frequently is the only
evidence Of Rentient animal life. There are e1-
Shakespeare calls It, hut they are rare L fen
hours before Beethoven died his hearing and
full voice returned to the stricken musician, but
that he himself heard the prayers he repeated is
one Of those anomalies IN nature which furniah
the exception to prove the rule.
And, as we have already said, it is now proved
that it is the same with death. It seems at first
sight that death intervenes as soon as the heart
ceases to beat, because, the circulation being
thereby arrested, it ia impossible to keep up
supply of nutrition to the several organs. But
modern researches have shown that this is very
fur from being actually the case. There are hum
dreds Of nervous energies which retain certain
living activity long after the heart has lost it's
own proper vitality. It has been conclusively
proved that the hair and the nails have in many
cases grown long after death, and Spalazani has
added 9 yet more important fact He fed d
crow, Immediately killed it, and placed it in
the bird when alive. Six hours aftarward he
opened it's stomach. and discovered that the
food had been thoroughly cdigaated. Another
physician, III. Robin, q Frenchman, expetimented
the haart continued to beat for nearly an hour
after the loss Of the head, and that the removal
of the liver, the stomach, and the intestnes had
no apparent effect in destroying it's action. In
1858, n. Brown-sequard. one Of the ab1est
Psychologists OF the day, carried this experiment
still further. He carefully decapitated dog,
and ten minutes afterward applied the gal
vanic current to the head No movement was
peEceptible. He then placed to the four arteries
found at the section OF the neck clyater
pipes communicating BY tubes with reservoir
Of fresh oxygenated blood, and observed the
penetration Of this blood into the vessels Of the
head. At once there we're irregular movements in
the eyes and the muscles Of the face, regular con-
ceedcd, and for quarter of an hour, during
which the injection Of the blood into the cere-
bral arteries continued, the head to al outward
semblance was restored to life. The tubes we're
shudder, and death cnsuod The question WAS
at once asked whether such resurrection were
not applicable to man also, and Mr. Robin Gu
treated II. Brown-Sequard to mike the attempt.
So convinced WAS he, however, that the func-
tions OF life were thoroughly restored by tho
process, that he refused to experiment upon the
head Of any man, executed after the French
mode, upon the ground that he could not con-
sent to be party to the tortures either head or
porari1y restored to life.
Another Psychologist, II. Paul Bert, has pur-
sued the same train OF investigation by smother
method. Reasoning from BroWn-Sequard and
Robins experiments. and upon the "ell-kno"n
i isWbons the9 Of tEe abdomen, then Of The n neck.
and then OF the breast, and convinced that o5
ganic death is a matter ct more plc1t,,1,ttseff ~
fhe tails OF two, I'D rats and er-.*su them, on,
npon The apd ofs. ths back shtsd 81
tEo otsn s new es Organisms hn sRsi and becams ss
ri II life when attached to the body ct their
= st possosBor. u. Bert intends to again cut of
these tails when the rats grow old again to en-
graft them and ascertain whether life thereby
cannot be indefinitely prolonged. We are not
il such experiments are successful in the case OF
the higher animals upon whom they will GER
tain1y be tried, to remove an arm or leg FROM
a man recently dead md graft them upon one
better substitute for the limb he has lost than
any which the skill or art Of man can make. ~
Almost every one has heard Of the attempts 70
restore animation II tho electric battery maae
from time to time since Adinl first tnea IL a.
Bonloene, in 1909, md every physiologist will
rcco11erf the famdtf3 case in Glasgow. Wne0, an