, 1873-06-22
The Phenomena of Disso1u-.
tion---Flourens' Vital
Knot: ~>-
Activities Of Which the Corpse Is
Capable---1nteresting Ez-
periments.
The Process Of Putrefaction---lmita.
ticns of Death---Prema-
ture Buria1s.
How to Know Apparent from Real
Death-.-Destiny Of the PSYCHE
cal Principles.

Dn1tn-s-UeSunI OF lne fSyc0l'
cal Principles.
III rRRsAyp pApu1oN TN TIE "REvuE DEs DKUx
MoSDEs y.
Translated FROM TEE FRENCH NJ A. h. dAcDoNouoH.
OF old, the spoils of death fell to the anato-
mist 9 share, while the Psychologist took for his
part the phenomena of life. Now ne submit the
corpse to the sama experiments Is the living Or
gsnisna, and pry into the relics OF death for the
sec1cts OF LIE. Instead OF seeing in the nfeless
body mere forms ready to dissolve and vanish,
We detect in it forces and perslstlng scfagat.es
full Of deep i1structiveness in their mode OF
working. As theologians and noralst6 e1hors
us to study the spectre OF death 1ace to lace 81
times, and strengthen our souls by courageous
meditation on our last hour, 60 medicine regards
it IS essential to direct our attention toward all
tbs details Of that mournfu1 drama, and thus to
lead Us, through gloom and shadows, to clearer
knowledge OF life. But it is only with respect
to medicine in the most modern days that this ia
tue.
Leibnitz, who held profound and admirable
theories Of life, had one of death also, which he
has 1nfolded in famous letter to Arnauld. He
believes that generation is only the development
49,
form. and TINT corruption OF death is only the
re-enyelopmeEt or inyo1ution OF the same animal,
which does not cease to subsist and continue
living. Tho sum Of vital energies, consubstan-
t;al with monads. does not vary in the world;
generation and death are but changes in tho or
der snd adjustment of the principles Of vitality,
simple transformations from small to grcat, and
yice versa In other words, Leibnitz sees every
5he-e eternal and incor1uptible germs Of life,
which neither perish at all no- begin. What
does begin and perish is the organic machine OF
which these germs compose the original activity:
the elementary gearing OF the machine is broken
apart, but not destroyed. This is the earlier
view held by Leibnitz. He has another, con-
ceiving OF generation as progress OF
life through degrees; he can conceive OF death
also "a gradual regress OF the same principle,
that is to say, that in death life withdraws little
bv little Just IS it came forward little by little
il generation. Deatl ia no sudden phenome-
non, no~ Instantaneous evanishing-it is q slow
operation, q 4retrogradation," es the Hanove-
.ian philosopher phrases it. When death shows to
us, it has been long time wearing away the Or
g1nisn, though ws have not perceived it, be-
cause dissolution 1T first attacks parts invisi-
bly small" Yes death, before it betrays itself
to the eye By liyid paor. to the touch By marble
coIdness. before chaining the movements and
ztifsuing the blood Of the dying person, creeps
with insidious secresy into the smallest aud most
hidden ponts CT his organs and his hnmors.
Here it begins to corrupt the fluid, to dlsorgan-
ize the tissues, to destroy the equipoise and en-
danger tha harmony. This process Is more OF less
lingering aud deceitful, and, when VIC note the
r,anifeaR manifest s,sns m Of death, wo may be sure that
the work lacked no deliberate preparation.
These ideas Of Lcibnitz, like most OF tue con-
ceptiors of geu;us, ~8itod long after the time ut
tLeir appearance for confirmation by de1nonstra-
tire experiment. Before his day, bodies were
dissccted only for tho sake OF studying in them
tha conformation and normal Arrangement OF the
organs When this study was once completed,
science took up the methodica1 inquiry into the
changes produced in the different parts Of the
body by diseascs. Not until the end Of the
eighteenth century did death in action become
the subject Of investigation by Blchat
Bichat is the greatest Of the physiological his
torinns Of death. The famous work he has left
on tlis subject, his " Physiological Researches
upon Life and Death, is as noteworthy for the
grandeur Of its general ideas, aud its beauty Of
Style as for its o. facts and eesy Of
mine Of recorded truths as to the physiology Of
death, Having determined the fact that Ifo is
seriously endangered only by alterations in one
Of the three essential organs. the brain, the
tripod. Bichat examines how the death OF one of
these thres organs assures that Of the others,
and in succession the gradual stoppago OF all the
functions. In our day, the advance OF expert
mental physiology In the path SO succeasfuly tra-
versed By Bchat, has brought to light in their
1uinutest details the various mechanlcal process
es Of death, and, what is OF far greater conse-
qusac9, has disclosed an entire order Of actlvi-
ties heretofore only suspected to be at work in
the carpse. The theory Of death has been built
up by s1ow degrees along with that Of Life, and
eeveralp1actical questions that had remained in
state q uncertainty, such as that OF the signs
OF real death. have received the most decisive
anBWer In ne course OF these researches.
Bichat pointe ont that the complete life of
animals 1s made . OF. two orders Of phenomena,
those Of circulatlo. and nutrition and those that
fix the 1elationa Of he living being with it's en-
vironment He distinguishes organic life from
animal life, properly SCALED. Vegetables have
only the former; animls possess both, inti-
1nately blended. Now, n the occurrence Of
death, these two sorts Of life do not d,sanpesr
at ona and the same nomet. It Is the animal !
life that suffers the first strok The moat mani
fest activities Of the nervous ,ygtem are thoea |
which como to halt before ALL the rest How
is this stoppage brought about We mrst cnn. |
slider separately the order Of oc,1rrences in |
death from old age, in thGt occasr7ed hv dia- !
ecss, and IN sudden death.
Tie man who expires at the close of aonc ia.
cline in years, dies In detail. All his se1see in