The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-04
A THEORY EXPLODED.
The Firing of Cannon to Raise the Bodies
of Drowned People.


of Drowned People.
Pittsburg Times.
The Engineers Society met last evening at the
rooms of the Western Iron Association. The
discussion upon natural gas, begun at a previous
meeting, was concluded. Mr.. Jarboe made the
statement that as the result of several expert
InentS he had discovered that intense heat may
be obtained without fame or intense light with
out flame. The fact that a strong blast was
necessary to produce these conditions he thought
would make the discovery impracticable for use
in dwellings, but that it could be used in mills
The light was obtained by intensely heating
hard substance. The substance, he said, was
scarcely affected at all by the heat He made
the discovery by accident and was still exper-
imentng with it,
What is itl' inquired a voice,
''Well, that is for me to know, he said, laugh,
ing. II can say, however, that with a Jet of
natural gas like one of these burners here,
pointing to one of the flames Of the chandelier,
Il can double discount two or three electric
lights"
With the transaction of some routine business
the paper Of the evening was read by Mr. Jose
de Cuento, native of Spain and an engineer in
the employ of the Pennsylvania Company. The
subject "Will Drowned Person be Raised by
the Discharge of Cannonl' was introduced by
an elaborate treatise on the laws Of gravity and
sound He said he did not believe that the ad
vocates of the the theory that the gall bladder
is burst by tine shock of cannon could have in
celve themselves'and others as we'll Physol
ogy says very plainly that the arteries
and veins are formed of muscular
tissue Surgery also states that the most
difficult thing to cut IS muscular tissue. The
veins being hollow. and besides their power of ex-
pansion and contraction when any pressure is
brought upon them, they can reduce themselves
to a small space but to burst vein or artery in
any portion of the body, such portion would
have to be reduced to a jelly, or else the pres
sure must come on the inside of the vein, two
things that cannot be accomplished in the water
Although it may be granted that a shock will
cause heavy pressure to come upon the body,
the pressue will come on the whole of the body
and not on one particular place. Nature has so
constructed the human body that the most sen
sitIve parts and those upon which life depends
mostly are so protected in the body that nothing
can affect them except when cut or any member
of the body has become mangled Suppose that
the veins will be burst by the firing of a cannon,
is there anything gained by it2 Nothing.
The blood will remain in the body coagulated
The specific gravity of the blood in its normal
state is l. 050 that of water 90, and it is found
that as it becomes hard the specific gravity in
creases 1t will be seen that by bursting the
veins nothing is gained. The specific gravity of
the body depends upon that of its various tissues
and organs Essentially all the materials of the
body, with the exception of the fatty substance,
are heavier than water, and the mean specific
gravity of all the tissues is higher than that of
water. But the air retained in the lungs during
life, even the residual and reserve air, is Just
sufficient to cOunterbalance the higher specific
gravity of the body generally, and so enables it
to float.
The specific gravity of the entire body, with
air in the lungs, is usually stated to be from
LOGO TO 1.070. The prot. 'cted buoyancy of the
body in water is, of course, chiefly determined
by the size Of the chest and lungs, the freedom
of the latter from deposits and their condition of
initiation.
In concluding the speaker said: ut will,
4ha,saf hr, f1oA, az,
cept the dredge or diver can bring the body to
the surface of the water Nature must take it's
course, and the body will rise in due time
There are certain natural laws that man should
not attempt to change, as they are established
by nature and they must stand One of these is
gravity Can it be possible that new law has
been found at this late date by means of which
gravity can be overcomel Then there must be
some means by which we can overthrow that
force that holds the solar system together But
it will be waste of time to think of subject
that will tend to advocate that by a shock gray
ity will be overcome"