Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-04-22
A Man without u Soul.

A Man without u Soul.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS AS TO THR SCIENCE
OF THE LwE-oP THE SOUL AND THE DEATH OF
THE BODY.
Mons 10 Do teur Bassay dAlembert, a
noted French surgeon and physician, has
long held that life might be prolonged indef-
initely in some classes of patients such for
instance, as those who have suffered no fatal
LESSONS, but who are psrishing from an@mia
or the degeneration and non-production of
proper blood corpuscles. He has boldly pro-
claimed his ability to create life, or. more
properly, revivify body that has been de-
prived of life from this cause and he has
maintained this pet theory with a persisten-
cy deemed almost insane by his friends, neg
lecting no opportunity to assert his ability to
demonstrate it. Until the 9th of this last
November he found no one willing to accept
as true his seeming visionary theory but
having secured a suitable patient for expert
mental purposes in the person of NJ. Nathan
Isaacs, a near relative, by the way, of the
Baron Rothschild, he Immediately proceeded
to demonstrate the truth of his hitherto un-
substantiated assertions. Mr.. Isaacs, a
wealthy Jew, was dying Of an an@mic disor-
der, and having heard of DIR. dAlembert's
theory he sent for him on the date above
mentioned, having discharged his family
physician. and placed himself wholly under
the charge of DIR. d'Alembert. Upon his ar.
rival DIR. dAlembert found his patient at the
point OF death, and the more strongly to
demonstrate the tenability of his belief, he
determined to allow Mr.. Isaacs TO expire hs-
fore trying his experiments. No stimulants
being exhibited, Mr.. Isaacs breathed his last
on the morning of the 18th of November at
4:30 O'Clock. DIR. d'Alembert, who slept in
the house, having been informed of this fact
by one of the nurses, Immediately had the
body placed in the box Constructed with
double walls packed with charcoaD and en-
tirely covered with pounded ice, and then had
1t removed to his office, where, in the pres
ence Of Drs. Dupuy, Dion, Ettienne and Ri
cord (the two latter members of the Acade-
my Of Seience), he had the body removed
from the box, wiped thoroughly dry and
placed on a table, the top of which was a
plate of glass five inches in thickness. Two
assistants then began with dry friction to
shampoo the entire surface of the body this
being thoroughly done, the doctor made an
incision, reaching 10 the spine at the first
vertebra, and buried there a smooth copper
plate attached 10 the one wire of an electric
battery. The incison was neatly sewed up,
to hold the plate in place, and the cicatrix
covered with colodium, or other tincture of
gun cotton. Another copper plate connect
ing with the same pole Of the battery was
buried at the base Of the skull, and still
third, of zinc, connected with the opposite
pole of the battery, was buried in a similar
manner at the base of the sternum. Every
thing being in readiness an almost impercep-
tible stream of electricity was turned on aud
SO gradually increased that ii was fully an
hour before any twitching of the muscles
could be discovered. At intervals of five
minutes the tongue was moistened with an
elixir composed of cognac brandy of $50 per
cent proof which had been rectifed six
times through filters of sand, charcoal and
felt. The tongue and fauces were moistened
with lime juice and water to prevent excoria-
ton of them. At the end of the hour, as
above stated, q slight tremor of the muscles
became discernible and at the end of the
second hour very minute globules of perspir-
alton could be seen with the magnifying glass
upon the throat, axilla and groins At this
point artificial respiration was begun and
kept up. Toward the close of the third hour
the flesh had moist feeling, the entire sur
face of the body being covered with a light
perspiration. From this stage we deem il
best to copy verbatim the diary of DR.. d'Al-
embert.
Fourth hour-Breathing being established,
artificial respiration was discontinued, Time
between exhalation and inhalation OF breath
twenty seconds, though growing more nat
ural
Fifth hour-Slight pulse; breathing all
right on forcing open the eyes, pupils found
very much dilated eyes not CLASSY.
Sixth hour-Left in charge of attendants
while physicians were at dinner, no reliable
notes of progress taken.
Seventh hour-Still improving pulse reg
ular, though very weak; eyes open and shut
of themselves.
Eighth hour-Stimulation with brandy dis
continued, strong egg-nog of goats milk
being substituted, steady progression.
Ninth hour-A muttered attempt at speech.
Tenth, eleventh and twelfth hours-No
change except that in the last half of the
twelfth hour, Immediately before a slight
slumber, the patient called for "wife and Et-
Ia" (his child.
Thirteenth and fourteenth hours-Sound
slumber, from which patient awoke refreshed
and began a conversation in weak tone.
Perfectly rational.
From this point we shall resume the narra-
tive, there being but little more to tell The
battery was kept attached TO Mr. Isaacs and
the stimulation continued though at longer
intervals In larger quantities. The most |
singular part of this truly strange" story is |
the fact that, although Mr. Isaacs recovered |
his intellect with the renewal of his life, yet |
his moral faculties were entirely dormant. |
WAoh hAo WIZ uhh ohiAa WoAc DAOukut "
he evinoed no emotion whatever, aud, while |
his memory recalled every incident Of his for
mer life, and all of his acquaintance say that |
his conversation and ideas were more bril-
liant than ever before, yet it was impossible
TO call up any association that was aughs but
Indifferent to him. When informed of his
mothers death (though he had been the most
devoted of sons) he merely remarked;
"Well, she was old enough, heaven knows"
4. =. -.
ance of the Jewish religion, he had become
most blasphemous. He would not tell the
truth if possible to lie, and seemed to take a
most intense delight to steal and seorete
about his person any object, even of the
most trivial value. He made frequent at
tempts 10 rob the doctor of his watch while
bending over him 20 administer stimulants,
eto. DIR. Reynault ST. Pierre, the highest
RariSiAn authority on insanity and matters re-