Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-18

to the length OF Time that elapsed between
the execution and the arrival of the bodies
at the laboratory, these experiments were
practically fruitess. But with the exc
cutiOn Of NenesciOu, the murderer of the
little Den girl, this practice was changed.
The bodies Of MenesclOu, Campi and
Gamahut have all been subjected to eX-
periments that are of the deepest scien-
tifc interest. In the case Of Campi the
experiments did not begin till an hour
and quarter after death. Conducted on
a careful and prearranged plan by DR..
Laborde, chief Of the medical faculty,
these experiments showed, among other
7 curious results, the action OF the inter-
cOstal muscles which cause the rise and
/ fall OF the chest in the common hut vital
act Of respiration. Since man has been
on this earti his chest rises and falls
about eighteen times minute TO supply
him with the breath OF life and, strange as
/ il me seem, not ill the death Of the muir
derer Camp was the how Of this simple
physical act definitely known and irreVO-
cably settled.
SENSATION AFTER DECAPITATION.
In the case Of the murderer Gamahut,
this great question came up: Is lite
that is to say, the power Of feeling and
suttering-instantlY and absolutely eX-
tngushed by the action of The knife Of
the guillOtine? Recently a French army
ScienH69Ue on the startling observations
he has had occasion to make in TOnquin
concerning chOpped-of heads. This sa-
want insists that he has perfectly noted an
undOubted expression Of feeling and suf-
feTng lasting several minutes after decap-
itation,
CLAUDE BERNARD's SUGGESTION.
The first Psychologist who took up the
serious question Of sensation existing in
the heads Of the decapitated was Claude
Bernard, famous professor in the Col
lege Of France. As an experiment he cut
off dogs heads with a very sharp axe and
allowed All the blood to run out of the
veins. Then, to prove that the brains of
the dogs had lost their power OF eXclt8-
bility only for a moment on account OF
the loss of blood, and that their power of
feeling still existed in a latent state, he
injected warm, detibrinated blood into
the carotid arteries. A head filled with
fresh blood in this way was placed upon
a table and the severed arteries cemented
wiki wax, whereupon it showed signs of
life. When the experimental stood behind
It, to the right or left Of 1T, and called,
the dogs eyes turned to the side from
which the call came. This phenomenal
exhibition ceased only after repeated eX-
periments with the same result. Claude
Bernard came to the correct conclusion
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 life-at least tenn
pOrarily-by a sufficient TRANSMISSION OF
blood kept at a normal temperature. He
added that the one who should try such
an experiment on the head OF an executed
criminal would witness an astounding and
terrible spectacle.
INDECIsIVE EXPERIMENTS.
1t was in 1882 on the head OF an assassin
named Menesclou, that DR.. Dassy and
DR.. Sappey tried to realize the suggestion.
They made use Of process Of blood
TRANSMISSION invented by Dr.. Laborde, the
learned professor of physiology, who has
since then made new attempts with the
heads OF Campi and Gamahut. Drs.
Dassy and Sappey. after having placed in
direct communication the carotid arteries
of living dog with those of the head of
the guillOtined man, were enable 10 DEM
onstrate some remarkable effects. But
the result expected from these expert
ments was not decisive because, unfOr-
tunatelv, there had elapsed too long a
time between. the execution of Menes-
clou and the carrying OF the body TO the
laboratory Of the faculty of medicine.
The delays 0ccasioned by the formal
placing of the corpse in the coffin and the
simulated burial will, these savants in
sist, he 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
execution.
The experiments in the case of CANA
hut particularly, they say, have demon
strated the correctness Of Claude Bern
ards theories. Under the influence of
the transmission Of revivifvng blood his
white and expression less face recovered
Tor some instants every appearance
OF life. The features that bad been droOp-
ing and of meaningless expression became
once more normal; the eyes opened, the
lips trembled, and for several moments
the witnesses hoped that the brain would
manifest its working by facial signs.
STATEMENT BY DIR. DE LIGNIEREs.
DIR. de Lignieres, Partisan physician,
who was one of the experimenting men,
bers, writes on the subject as follows:
"The incOntestable proof of the cOntIn-
uance of life of heads cut OF by the gull
lotine seems to me merely question of
time. While awaiting the proof, | am of
the opinion, entertained by many physi-
olOgists that these heads live until emptied
of the blood they contain. The head
Whlch rolls INTO basket sees this basket,
bears the voices of the crowd, and under
stands its separation from the body.
"Certainly out of ten condemned crimi-
nails who 20 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 con-
seriousness of their being and of their sur
rouldlngs. But the others maintain TO
the end perfect GOODNESS and "A knowledge
of all that is passing. On the other hand
the violent blow Of the knife on the neck
usually produces on the brain a shock
which should dun the sensations. II might
happen, however, that the blow is So rapid,
the cutting so neat, that the brain has not
had time TO have its functions disturbed.
''ln short, whatever may be the state OF
the brain at the moment that IL is in
stantly separated from the body IL com
mands, that powerful and delicate organ
cannot cease living suddenly. The cells
/ OF which il is composed keep their eX-
| citability, and consequently perform their
duties as long as the blood which battles
them permits their nutritiye exchanges.
"How long does that last. II cannot he
told In mathemaucally exact way, but
when one considers the extreme complex
| ity and dellcacy of the vascular network
OF the brain, and when one remembers
that the outflow of blood is retarded by
the saWdust i'm which the hQNd fallg in