The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1876-01-15

Hsctrictty as an EcecsttiOncr.

ZCSCtIeCtSH 10 Ntfo A<sOCNttCsVtGCds
From the Scientific American.
The revolving scenes accompanying the execu-
ton of several criminals in this vicinity are well
calculated to bring to public notice the disad-
vantages of hanging as mode of capital punish
ment.
The teachings Of Scieace are needed and sought
for in the building of prisons, in the manage
ment and care of eonvicts, and in every modern
correctional system; and yet in so simple and
easy process as the extinguishing Of human life,
they are utterly ignored.
The NEST certain and painless death known to
Science is caused by the lightning strske, or by,
what amounts to the same thing, the electric
shock. When powerful discharge of electricity
is received in the body, existence simply stops,
and the reasen is obvious. Helmholtz has prov
ed that, for any vibration which results in sensa-
ten to reach the brain through the nerves, one
tenth Of second of time is required. Further
more, time is also needed for the mescules of the
brain to arrange themselves through the effect of
that vibration, through the motions and posi-
tions necessary to the completion of conscious
ness, and for this an additional period of one
tenth Of second is expended. Consequently, if,
for example, we prick our finger with a pin, it
takes two-tenths of second for US to feel and
recognize the hurt. 1t can easily be conceiV-
ed therefore, that if an injury is inflicted which
instantly units the nerves to transmit the motion
which results in sensation, or if the animating
power is suddenly suspended by an injury to the
brain before the latter completes consciousness,
then death inevitably follows with no interven-
ton of sensibility whatever.
Now rife bullet, which traverses the brain in
the one-thousandth of q second, manifestly must
cause this instant stoppags OF existence and proof
of this is found in the placid faces Of the dead and
in the fact that there is nothing more common
than to find men lying dead on battle fields, shot
through the brain, but with every member sti6en-
ed in the exact position it was in when the bullet
did its work. But rife ball is slow beside the
electric shock. Persistence OF vision lmpresseS
lightning fash on the retina for one-sixth of a
second, but its actual duration is barely one one
hundred thousandth of a second.
The effect of the shock on the system is excel
lently described by Professor Tyndall, who, while
lecturing before large audience, inadvertently
touched the wire leading from Is charged Leyden
jars, and received the whole discharge through
his body. Luckily the shock was not powerful
eneuQh to be fatal but as the lecturer regained
his senses, he experienced the astonishing sensa-
ton of all his members being separate and grad
ually fastening themselves together. He says,
however, that 'life was blotted ont for sensible
interval" and he dwels with much stress upon
the opinion that there cannot be a doubt that,
to person struck by lightning, the passage from
life to death occurs without consciousness being
IN the least degree lmpIlcatea. IL Is al aoIapt
stoppage OF sensation, unaecompanied by
pang" So much for the death which, BY suita-
bic alteration of the law, we would have substi-
tuted for slow strangulation. The next point is
its practical accomplishment.
Iastead of building a gallows and providing
rope, the sheriff, advised by competent electro
clan, would procure powerful RuhmkOrf coil
and heavy battery. These instruments would
rarely need replacing, and would last indefinite
ly for other executions. The battery and coil
should be of sufficient strength to deliver an egh-
teen inch spark. In case of their being more
than one person 10 be executed, all of the con-
demned would be conducted with all due cere-
mony to the place Of execution, the left hand OF
one man handcuffed to the right hand of his
neighbor, and the conducting wire fastened to
bracelets on the disengaged wrists Of beth crimi-
mails, if only two are to be hanged, or to the
wrists of the cater men, if more than that num-
Der to suffer. The culprits being seated SO as
to be seen by the legal witnesses, the sheriff
presses baton. The current is instantly estab-
lished from the coil, passes through the bodies of
the men, and all is ever. With a competent
electrician, who might be member of the police
force and specially charged with the duty, there
would be no possibility of mistakes. The same
ignominy which attaches TO the gallows would
be transferred to this mode Of destruction, while
the peculiar death by lightning, which, among
the ignorant of all nations and ages, has been the
subject of profound superstition, would without
doubt, through its very incomprehensibility and
mystery, Undue the uneducated masses with a
deeper horror.