The Dickinson press., 1884-08-09
SECRETS OF THE SCAPPelD.

ment n It's Appalling Results.
The prisoner was one of those who
do not play at cards; neither fear nor
hope was discernible in his face. He
was ~thirty-four years of age, dark, Of
middle height and very we'll built; his
hair on his temples was commencing
to turn slightly gray; his eyes were
nervous, rarely opened to their full ex-
tent; his forehead bespoke large mean
ing powers; his speech was low and
quick; his hands leaden-colored; his
physiognomy had the stiff expression of
man formally precise in his utter
ances; his manners implied studied re-
fnement. Nevertheless, M. de la Pom
merals had been condemned to suffer
the extreme penalty under articles 3O1
and 392 of the penal code for having
administered fatal doses of digitalis to
alady of his acquaintance premeditat-
eddy and through motives of %avarice.
Suddenly the sound of rifle-butts
echoed on the pavement of tho corridor;
the turning lock squeaked harshly; the
door halted opened; there was a glim-
mering of bayonets in the penumbra
without, and M. Beauquesne, director
of La Roquette, appeared upon the
threshold accompanied by a visitor,
whom M. de Ia Pommerais recognized
at one glance as the illustrious sur
geon. Armand Velpeau, The two
colleagues We're left alone, face to face.
IN. de Ia Pcmmerais," said DR.. Vel
peau, "your pulse reveals q rare GOODNESS
and firmness of character. The mission
have undertaken (and which 1 trust
will be kept secret) has for its object a
sort of offer which, even though adj
dressed to q physician of your energy
to o mind we'll tempered in the posi-
tive convictions Of our science and Who'll
ly free from the fantastic dread of death
might seem either criminally extrava-
CANT or criminally derisive. But we
know each other, Ibelieve, and you will
therefore take my proposition into seri-
Il consideration, however singular it
may seem to you at first"
"You have all my attention, sir" re-
plleQ La fOmmefalS.
"You are certainly we'll aware" con-
tinued Velpeau, chat one of the most
interesting question of modern physi-
ology is whether the least CLEAN of
memory, of thought, of veritable sensi-
bility, persists in the brain of man after
the severing of the head from the body"
At this unexpected overture the con
demned prisoner started; then, recov-
ering his calmness, replied:
"Well, just as you came in, Doctor,
I happened to be discussing that very
problem with myself-a problem which
now, of course, has q two-fold interest
for1ne."
"You are doubtless familiar with all
the works which have been written up
on this subject from the time of Seem
mering, Sue, Sedillyt and Bichat to
IL own days?"
"Yes;I have, moreover, attended one
of your classes of dissection, when you
lectured upon the remains of an exc
cuted criminal"
"Ah! Then to the point! Have you
any precise knowledge from the surgi-
cal point of view concerning the guillo-
tine?"
"No, sir"
II have scr%upulously studied the ap-
) paratus myself to-day" continued Vel
: peau, with superlative GOODNESS, land I
can bear witness that it is a perfect in
: strument. The knife-blade, acting at
once like wedge, a scythe and q
waight, intersects the patients neck
bevel-wise in one-third of o second.
The decapited man can feel no more
pain from this lightning shock than q
soldier can feel for the moment in bat
tie when his arm is carried away by q
round shot. Sensation is dull and
obscure by reason Of lack of time to
feel"
"But perhaps there is the after pain
y the quick of the two wounds! Was
{ it not Julia Fontenelle who asked if
this very rapidity of decapitation has
. not more painful consequences than
4 beheading with q sword or ax?"
! "Berard did summary justice to the
4 Question:" replied Velpeau. "As for
! .:me, 1 have the firm conviction-based
upon o hundred experiences and
upon general observations-that in
staneous ablation ofthe head as instantly
produces the most absolute anestheside
insensibility. Even the syncope itself,
produced 10y the loss of four or five lit
ears of blood which bursts from the YES
sells (often with o force of circular pro-
sjection of q meter in diameter), ought
4 sufficiently to convince the most timid
person of the fact. AS for the uncon-
: scious movements of the ieshy mechan-
a ism, too suddenly checked in its pro-
cesses, these no more constitute an in
dication than the quivering of an ampu-
tated leg Of which the muscles and
nerves still contact, although there is
no more pain from it. [ say that the
nervous fever of uncertainty, the solem-
nifty of the last preparations and the
start Of the morning awakening are the
by positive sufferings endured. The
Smputation must be impreceptible;
therefore, the pain is only imaginary.
What when a violent blow on the head
3 not only unfelt, but leaves no memory
its shock, when a simple lesion of the
HGebra produces ataxic insensibility,
e we to believe that the very severing
! the head, the session of the spinal
,lumn, the interruption of all organic
Stations between the brain and the
cart, are not enough to effect total
Earalysis in the deepest life-centers of
sensation Of pain, however vague?
impossible! Inadmissible! And you
esow it as we'll as L."
l"I. hope it, at least, even more than
ou, sir" replied La Pommerais. "But
is not, after all, any violent or rapid
Ehysical pain (any pain momentarily
experienced in the general panic of
&.l .Ae. .4.lal L. Az .a.:L