Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-10
THEPHYsIOLoGY or DEATH.

0llEuLC nao DuclC4 4t|A- ~ -
with the physiology of life than with
that of death; yet, death with all its
characteristic phenomena must be stu
died beforeaBe-eanznnderstand the M
terests of lie III it's whole career. Leib-
nitz had a profound idea that the
sum Of vital energies in the world was.
never increased nor diminished. Life,
according to his theory, is indestructi-
bic. A mans body perishes with decay,
but not his vitality The immortal
part must be, not the dying, but the
living part Of humanity. asH 10 ja'os
Bichat was at once the greatest of
Psychologists and historians of death,
leading the way in the path Of science
in his physiological Researches upon
Life and Death" He pointed out that
the complete life of animals is made up
of two orders of phenomena, those of
circulation and nutrition. and those
that fix the living being with its sur
roundings. He distinguishes organic
life from animal life properly so called.
Vegetables have the former, while ami
mails possess both intimately blended.
In the death of animals these
two kinds of life do not
disappear at the same moment.
One may see the flesh of a young ami
NAL slaughtered for meat, witch and
contract some hours after the hide has
been taken off, and all feeling is gone.
Death from old age comes by equal ex-
haustion Of both kinds of vital forcei
but, unfortunately, very few persons
live TO die by what may be called aper-
fectly natural death. Diseases are too
numerous and active for that; and life
is otherwise exposed 70 many perils,
perhaps more from Gareissssess thsp
any other cause, between the cradle
and the grave.
Without some contraction of the
heart and circulation of blood to warm
and yitahse the body, death COOP en-
sues. Mr.. Bouchest has proved that in
the grayest cases of f~ainting, the pull
sations of the heast continue, weaker
and rarer, and harder to be heard thaR
in normal life, but clearly distinguish:
able when tbs eau is laid on the pre-
cordial region. On the other hand, the
muscles retain their supleness and the
limbs their pliability.
In 1850 a named Ann Green,
was hanged at Oxford, England. At
ter size had been hanging half an hour,
several persons sesing hef aliye, TO
shorten her suffering, pulledat her feet
with all their might. After she was
put in her coffin, she Was observed to
breathe, and other attempts were made
to extinguish life and pain, but by the
help of a physician she recovered.
Many have been saved from apparent
death by drowning under circumstances
quite d~iscoaragipg. and the best treat
ment in such cases should be Eniyer-
sally known. Filling the ATTITUDES
with water is perhaps the greatest OBJ
struction to breathing. A sort of
shampOoning over the chest and body
and placing it in 4 position for the
water to escape easily from the l4ngsl
and using mild currents of electricity
have often restored respiration and
consciousness. 1t is because water ex-
cludes air Oxygen that drowned per-
sons die. Where oxygen gas is avail
abe a little has been forced into the
windpipe with good effect.
The physiology of death would not
appear in it's true light did we ignore
grave mistakes often made in suppOs-
ing persons to be dead who r not. A
rural guard, having no family, died in
a little village of Lower Charente,
Hardly grown cold, his body was taken
out of bed and laid on a straw ticking
covered with a coarse cloth. An old
hired woman wac charged with the
watch over the bed of death. At the
foot of the corpse were a branch of
box, in a vessel filled with holy water,
and a lighted taper. Toward midnight
the old watcher fell asleep, and two
hours later she awoke from burning
heat and flames and rushed out Of the
hut calling for help. The dead soldier
was o on bis feet in the yard, and
badly burnt.
Bruhier and Lallemand have coll
lected into two works that have become
classic, the history of cases in which
persons have been inferred alive, most
ly in France. On the 18th of October,
lS42, a farmer died, as was believed,
in a hay loft where he was in the habit
of sleeping. In twenty-four hours
after death, the body was placed in a
coffin for burial; but in carrying it
down a ladder a round broke and the
coffin fell, one end on the floor or
ground, burst open, and the dead man
was taken out alive and got well. This
man, refusing to pay for his coffin and
other expenses Of his funeral, was sued
therefor. His defense was, that as his
heirs were Over-anxious to get his
property, they should foot the bill.
Philip Small, a famous accoucheur,
was called to see a female who, as the
attendants thought and believed, died
Just before he arrived. He says; 81
felt no pulse in the region of the heart,
anda glass held wei her face showed
no signs of desperation" To a v the
child, a Cesarean operation was under
taken. Blood flowed from the cutting
OF the knife, and the subject awoke
from her lethargy.