Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-08-08
SECRETS or THE SCAFFeLD.
Does Unoonsci BUSINESS Immediately FOL
low Decapttation by the Guillotins7-
Surg con ve1peaus Astounding Expert
ment and IT'S Appalling Results.

0UEX SOA v61pSbtAS kA3UUak1kN1uX xAAFS9As
naent and It's Appalling Results.
! The prisoner vas one Of those who
/ do not play at cards; neither fear nor
4 hope was discernib1e in his face. He
was thirty-four years Of age, dark, Of
middle height and very we'll built; his
y hair on his temples was commencing
4 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
4 physiognomy had tile stiff expression Of
q man formally precise in his utter
sances; his manners implied studied re-
tinement. Nevertheless, NJ. de Ia Pom
merals had been condemned to suffer
the extreme penalty under articles 3O1
4 and 302 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 rife-butts
echoed on the pavement of the corridor +;
the turning lock squeabed harshly; the
door halted opened; there was q glina-
mering of bayonets III the penumbra
without, and NJ. Beauquesne, director
of La Roquette, appeared upon the
threshold accompanied by visitor,
whom M. de Ia Pommerais recognized
at one glance as the Industrious sur
geon, Armand Velpeau, The two
colleagues were left alone, face to face.
M de Ia Pommerais," said Dr.. Vel
peau, "your pulse reveals rare coolness
and firmness Of character The mission
have undertaken land which trust
will be kept secret has for its object q
sort of offer which, even though adj
dressed to physician of your energy
to 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 cri1ninally extrava-
CANT or criminally derisive. But we
know each other, / believe, and you will
therefore take my proposition into seri
Gus consideration, however singular it
may seem toyou at first.
"You have all my attention, sir" re-
piled La Pommerais.
you are certainly we'll aware" con-
tinued Velpsau, 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 problem which
now of course, has a,two-fold interest
for me-"
"Yeu 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
our own days?"
"Yes;I have, moreover, attended one
OF your classes of dissection, when you
iectured 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, sin"
"I have scrupulouslv studied the ap-
paratus myself to-day" continued Vel
peau, with superlative GOODNESS, land /
can bear witness that it is n perfect in
strunent. The knife-blade, acting at
once Ikea wedge, a scvthe and
H. ,,x%o f1,n r,,4iD,,|'r
bevel-wise in 'one+third o.: second
The decapited man can feel no more
pain from this lightning shock than
soldier can feel for the moment in bat
tie when his arm is carried away by
round shot. Sensation is dull and
obscure by reason Of lack Of time to
feel"
: "But perhaps there is the after pain
the quick OF the two wounds! Was
it not Julia Fonrenelle who asked ii
this very rapiditv of decapitation has
$beheading with sword OF ax?" .l..
sBerarl did summary justice to the
Question" replied Velpeau. :sAs for
me, have the firth onviction-based
upon o hundred experiences and
upon general observations-that in
sstaneous ablation ofthe head as instantly
produces the most absolute annstheside
insensibility. Even the syncope itself,
produced Ivy the loss of four or tive lit
sers Of blood which bursts from the YES
ssels (often with q force of circular pro-
lection Of o. meter in diameter), ought
sufficiently to convince the most timid
ia f,r E., r5 fn,, r.,
scious movements Of the heshy mechan-
ism, too suddenly checked in it's pro-
tcesses, these no more constitute an in
,dication than the qrlivering of an ampu-
tated leg of which the muscles and
NERVES still contact, although there is
no more pain from it. I say that the
nervous fever Of uncertainty, tlle:solem-
nifty Of the last preparations and the
start of the morning awakening axe the
emily positive suferings endured. The
amputation must 'be inprecepGible;
therefore, the pain is only imaginary.
What when o YioIens blow on the head
is not only unfelt, brit leaves no memory
of its shock, when o simple lesion ofthe
.vertebrn produces ataxic insensibility,
are we to believe that the very seyering
of the head, the session of the spinal
column, the interruption of all organic
relations between the brain and the
heart, are not enough to effect total
paralysis in the deepest Life centers Of
all sensation Of pain, however vague P
Impossible Inadmissiblea And you
knowtit as we'll as T." ia II ,.B j
81 hope it. al least. even more than
you, ST., Y replied La Pomrne erals. But
it is not, after all, any violent or rapid
physical pain (any pain znoanentarily
experienced in the general panic Of
senses, and soon stiHed by the irresist-