The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-16
THE KNIFE OF THE GUILLoTINE.
Does Its Action Instantly and Absolutely Elk
tinguish the Power of Feeling?

tinguish the Power of Feeling?
Paris Letter in New York World.
In compliance with the regulation the bodies
Of executed criminals in Paris are driven to the
cemetery at full speed i'll the prison van, where
the collins are allowed to touch the ground after
which make. believe burial they are Immediately
brought back and handed over to the faculty of
the Laboratory of Physiology. The bodies are
then submitted to experiment..
Until a few years back. the faculty had. in
such cases, confined themselves to simple au-
topsy ordinary dissection, and a statement as
to the condition of the principal vital organs
The only scientific experiments made We're until
then confined to a passing excitation of the
principal muscles of the trunk and face with
the aid of electric currents Owing to the
length of time that elapsed between the execu-
ton and the arrival of the bodies at the abora-
tory, these experiments practically fruit
less. But with the execution of Menesclou, the
murderer of the little Deu girl, this practice
was changed The bodies of Menesclou, Campi
and Gamahut have all been subjected to expert
ments that are of the deepest scientific interest.
In the case of Campi the experiments did not be-
gin tlli an hour and quarter after death Con-
Quoted on careful and prearranged plan by DR..
Laborde chief of the medical faculty. these ex-
perments, showed among other curious results.
the action OF the intercostal muscles which cause
the rise and fall of the chest in the common but
vital act of respiration. Since man has been on
this earth his chest rises and falls about eighteen
life, and strange as it may seem, not till the
death of the murderer Campi was the how of
this simple physical act definitely known and lr-
revocahly settled
In the case of the murderer Gamahut. this
great question came up, Is life-that is to say.
the power of feeling and MISUNDERSTANDING
and absolutely extinguished by the action of the
knife OF the guillotinel Recently French
army surgeon wrote an article for the Revue
Scientifque the startling observations he
has had occasion to make in Tonquin concern
ing chopped off heads. This savant insists that
he has perfectly noted an undoubted expression
OF feeling and suffering lasting several minutes
after decapitation
The first psychologist who took up the serious
question of sensation existing in the heads of
the decapitated was Claude Bernard, a famous
professor In the College of France. AS an ex-
pertinent he cut off dogs heads with a
very sharp ak, and allowed all the
blood to out of the veins. Then, to
prove that the brains of the dogs had
lost their power of excitabity only for
moment on account of the loss of blood and
that their power of feeling still existed in
latent state he injected warm, de6brinated
blood into the carotid arteries. A head filled
with fresh blood in this way was placed upon a
table and the severed arteries cemented with
wax, whereupon it showed signs of life. When
the experimenter stood behind it, to the right or
left of it, and called, the dogs eyes turned to the
side from which the call came. This phenome-
nal exhibition ceased only after repeated expert
came to the correct conclusion that the head of
decaptated man loses the power of sensation
and perhaps of thought only when the brain is
absolutely deprived of blood, and that it would
be possible to bring back lfe-at least Temporal
rly-by sufficient TRANSMISSION of blood kept at
normal temperature. He added that the one
who should try such an experiment on the head
of an executed criminal would wltnssg an
astounding and terrible spectacle.
1t was in 1882, on the head of an assassin
named Menesclou, that DR.. Dassy and Dr. Sap
pey tried to realize the suggestion. They made
use of process of blood TRANSMISSION invented
by DR.. Laborde, the learned professor of ply
siology who has since then made new attempts
with the heads of Campi and Gamahut Drs
Dassy and Sappey, after having placed in drec.
communication the carotid arteries of a living
dog with those of the head of the guillotined
man, were enabled to demonstrate some re-
markable effects. But the result expected from
these experiments was not decisive, because, I'M
fortunately there had elapsed too long time
between the execution of Menesclou and the
carrying OF the body to the laboratory of the
by the formal placing of the corpse in
the coffin and the simulated burial will, these
savauts insist be the only obstacle to the
complete success of their experiments 1t is now
time, they claim that in the interests of science
and society the government shall take the
necessary measures by which the bodies of
criminals may be delivered to competent
physicians Immediately after the execution.
The experiments in the case of Gamahut par
ticularly, they say, have demonstrated the cor
rectness of Claude Demands theories Under
the influence of the transmission of revivitying
blood his white and expressioness face recov-
cred for some inStants every appearance of life.
The features that had been Cirooping and of
meanless expression became once more normal;
the eyes opened, the lips trembled, and for sew
eral moments the witnesses hoped that the brain
would manifest its workings b. facial signs.
DR.. de Lignieres Parision physician, vino
Of a1ansc
on the subject as follows: 'The incontestable
proof Of the continuance of life of heads cut off
by the guillotine seems to me merely question
of time. While awaiting the proof. / am of the
opinion, entertained by many psychologists that
these heads live until emptied of the blood they
contain. The head, which rolls into a basket,
sees this basket, hears the voices of the crowd,
and understands its separation from the body.
Certainly out of ten condemned criminals
who 60 up to be executed there are eight who
are almost insensible to their surroundings; they
walk as if in a horrible nightmare; they have
totally lost consciousness of their being and of
their surroundings. But the others maintain to
the end perfect GOODNESS and knowledge of all
that is passing. On the other hand, the violent
blow of the knife on the neck usually produces
on tt, brain shock which should dull the SEN
satio1s. 1t might happen, however, that the
blow is so rapid, the cutting so neat that the
brain has not had time to have its functions dis
turbed.
"In short. whatever may be the state of the
brain at the moment that it is instantly separat
ed from the body it commands, that powerful
and delicate organ cannot cease living suddenly.
The cells of which it is composed keep their ex-
ctability, and consequently perform their duties
as long as the blood which bathes them permits
their nutritive exchanges
'How long does that last? 1t cannot be told
in automatically exact way but when one
considers the extreme complexity and delicacy
of the vascular network of the brain, and when
one remembers that the outflow of blood is re-
tarded by the sawdust in which the head falls in
front of the guillotine, the time must be esti-
mated at several minutes"
death Loves a Shining Mark"
Brooklyn Union.
Brooklvnte who has had some far Western
experiences in connection with mining interests