Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-10
BRINGING THE DEAD TO LIFE.
A Wonderful Discovery Made a Long
Way of.


London Cor. Manchester Examiner.l
1t is dangerous nowadays to laugh
at any Of the wonderful stories which
are from time to time narrated in the
columns of the press, because these
stories have acquired the awkward
habit of turning out TO be true, and
to make those who Knocked and jeered
feel small. Therefore it will be well
to wait before smiling at the extraor
binary account of a recent discovery
which the Times of this morning
copies from the Brisbane Courier.
For the benefit of such of my readers
as have not seen this account, | may
explain that it announces hat a GER
tain Signor Rotura, a gentleman who
knows a great deal about South Amer
lea botany, has found a method of
suspending animation in living bodies
for an indefinite time, and of bringing
them to life again whenever he
likes, unless certain accidental cir
cumstances prevent the success of
the experiment in hand. Aided by
a Mr.. James Grant, Signor Routra has
been operating on dogs, cats and sheep
with most marvellous results, if the
story is true. He makes a slight
puncture in the animals ear, and
pours in a few drops of some South
American vegetable extract now
known only to himself, and the dog or
sheep Immediately becomes rigid, and
to all present intents and purposes,
dead. Then the animal is put away
on a shelf to keep; not in this state,
however, for long, for it is said that
the resemblance to death is so COM
plete that decomposition soon sets in.
This, therefore, is to be avoided by
freezing the subject into hardness of
stone and brittleness of glass, and in
this state the beasts are TO be sent
over to England or any other country
which may want them. As soon as
they arrive another little hole is to be
made in the neck, a few drops of the
antidote to the poison injected, aud
the animal will Immediately regain
consciousness and begin to skip and
frOlic about, Sometimes, it is said,
the subject succumbs to the operation
of freezing, but not often, for even
such delicate creatures as lambs have
been resuscitated after being appa
rently dead for nineteen days.
The immediate object and applica-
tiOn Of the discovery is the transmits
sion Of the surplus stock of Austria
liam sheep and cattle to Europe, but
Signor ROtura expects to work still
greater marvels than that. He has
not yet experimental upon a human
being, because, | suppose, no human
being, not even himself, has been
found who cared to risk martyrdom in
the interest of science, but application
is said to have been made to Sir Henry
Parker to allow the next felon con.
demned to death in the Colony to be
operated upon. | suppose the crimi.
nal would not object. At the worst
he could only die, and if the expert.
ment succeeded he would probably re.
ceive a pardon Tor his services. |.
Signor Rotura gets the man, he
proposes to inject the poison, put tn,
felon in a refrigerator for a month anC
then take him out and bring hin
to life again. The most extraordinar,
part of the story is that the signo.
believes that the time the person O
animal experimental upon remain
unconscious, and this time may b.
years, if not taken out of his ordinar,
life, because no bodily change will eve
take place while the trance lasts, s,
that a person who was tired of lif
now and wanted to leave the worlt
and come back another day, woulC
only have to get himself e~ntranceC
and frozen up, and be brought back t,
active existence at an appointed time
If all of this is invention, it at leas
shows that the world possesses a wri
ter Of romance before whose astound
ing imagination Baron M~unchausei
himself must pale his Intellectual fires