The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-03-22
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
New Process for Freezing Alive Cattle. Sheep
Spendthrifts and Poor Relations.

y, he informs Us he has Witnessed, the ,quute
/. who to-day is pulling over the future pros
pcct of his surplus stock has opportunities be
fore him that may fairly be termed golden
] We culture no opinion on the process, an ac
l count OF which We give in the writers own
u words
T. ANY of your readers who know Sydney ilar
= Dor will remember the long inlet opposite tn,
= Heads known Al, Middle lIarbor. Here IN
> perfect scClusiOn with careful avoidance OF
: publicity Is being conducted IN experiment the
I success of which, now established beyond any
doubt, must have Il wider effect upon the tu-
turc prosperity of Australia than any project
ever contemplated. The gentlemen engaged
r in this enterprise are SignOr ROtura whose re
p searches INTO the botany and natural history OF
South America have rendered his name emf
ncnt and Mr.. James Grant, IA pupil OF the late
| Mr. Nicollc, 50 long associated with Mr..
5 Thomas Mort in his freezing process Il ap-
pear, 1--WE months ago Signor Rotum called
upon Mr. Grant to invoke his assistance in a
scheme for the transmission of live stock to
> Europe Signor Rotura aycrrcd that he had
discovered IL South American vegetable poison,
led To the wcll-known "woorara," that had
the power of perfectly suspcnding animation,
and that the trance thus produced continued
till the application Of another vegetable essence
caused the blood to resume it, circulation and
the heat its functions So perfect moreover,
was this suspension of life that SignOr ltotura
had found in warm climate decomposition
set in at the eXtrcmtics after u week of this
living death, ard he imagined if the body
while in this inert state was reduced to a tenn
pcrature sufficiently low to arrest dccomposl-
lion the trance might he kept up for months,
possibly for years. He frankly owned he had
| =, ;nJ Ia NJ In nv
cold. and could not confidently speak AS to Is
effects upon the after restoration Of the animal
operated upon. Before he left Mr.. Grant, he
! had turned that gentlcman's doubts into won
dcrng curiosity by experimenting on his dog,
! He injected two drops OF tins liquid mixed
! with little glyccrlnc into small punCturc
| made in the dOg's ear, and IN three or four
minutes the animal was perfectly rigid, the
! four legs stretched backwards, eyes wide open,
pupils very much datcd and exhibiting symp
| toms very similar to those Of death by stryCh |
nine, except that there had been no previous
| struggle or pain. begging his owner to nave
no apprehcnslons for the life OF his iavorie
animal, Sgnor Rolura lifted the dog carefully |
and placed HIM on shelf in the cupboard, |
where he begged he might be left till the fol- |
lowing day, when he promised To call at 10
O'Clock and revive the apparently dead brute.
Mr. Grant continually during that day and
night visited the cupboard and 30 perfectly |
was life suspended IN his iavoritc-nO motion
of the pulse Of the heart giving any indication
Of the possibility OF revival the frame beng
perfectly rgid-that he felt the sharpcSf re- |
proachcs of rcmOrsc at having sacrificed a faith |
full friend to doubtful and dangerous expert |
mcnt. The temperature Of the body, too, in
the first four hours gradually lowered TO %
degrees Fahrenheit below ordinary blood tenn
pcraturc, which increased his fears rs to the re-
suit ana bv morning the body was ~ cold
rs IN actual death. At 10 o'clock next morn !
ing, according to promise, SlgnOr Rotura pre-
scented himself and lau ching at Mr. Grants
fears, requested "A tub of warm water 10 be
brought. He tested this TO % degrees Fahrcn-
hcit and III this laid the dog, head under To
Mr.. Grants objections SIgnuT ROtura assured /
him that, as animation must remain entirely
suspended till the administration of the anti
dOtc, no water could be drawn into the lungs
and that the immersion of the body was simply |,
to bring it again to blood heat After about
ten minutes of this bath the body was taken
out and another liquid injected in punCture
made in the neck Mr. Grant tells me the re-
vival of TURK" was the most startling thing
he ever witnessed, and having since seen Che
same experiment made upon Il sheep | can
fully confirm his statement The dog first
showed the return OF lite in the eye, and after
five and Il half minutes he drew first long
breath and the rigidty left his limbs In II
few minutes more he commenced gently Wag-
ging his tail, and then slowly got up, stretched
himself and trot,cd off as though nothing had
happened FtOm that moment Mr.. Grant he
came aware Of the extraordinary issues opened
by his visitors discovery and promised him
all the assistance in his power. They next de
tcrmlncd to try freezing the body, and the first
two experiments were dscouraging \ dog
mot Turk his master declining to experiment
any further on his tavoritc) was put in the
freezing chamber at Mr.. Grants works, after
being previously "suspcndcd' by Signor Rotu-
ra and although the animal revived SO far rs
to draw - long breath the vital energies APP
pearcd too exhausted for a complete rally, and
the animal died. The two next animals-a
dog and a cat-dcd in like manner In the
meantime DIR. Barker had been taken into their
CounsCls, and at his suggestion respiration was
encouraged. rs IN the case OF persons drowned, ,
by artificial compression and expansion of the
lungs. Dr. Barker was of opinion that as the !
heart IN every case commenced to beat II was
IA want of vital force to set the lungs in motion
that caused death. The result showed his sur
misses 70 he entirely correct Anumscr of AMI
mails whose life had been sealed up in this al
liicjal death, have been kept in the freezing
chamucr from one to five weeks and il is found
that though the shock 10 the system is very ,
great, it is not increased by duration of time.
Mcssr,. Grant and ROtura then determined up
on the erection OF the works JUS, finished at
Middle Ilarbor, an cntcrprising capitalist find.
ing the necessary funds .
On Saturday last was invited to go down
Ia see what had been effected Arrived ut the
works in Middle liarbor | was taken into the
building that contains Nj. Grants apparatus
for generating cold. Attached to this is the
freezing chamber, a small, dark room about 5
by 10 feet. Here were fourteen sheep, four
lambs and three pigs stacked on their sides in
a heap alive, which Mr. Grant told me had
been in their present position for nineteen days,
and were 10 remain there for another three +,
months. Selecting one OF the lambs Slgnor
Rotura put ii on his shoulder and carried ii
outside into the other building. where were a
number Of shallow cemened tanks i'll the
floor, having hot and cold water taps to each