The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-28
DOES IT HURT TO BE BEHEADEDq

DOES IT HURT TO BE BEHEADEDP
Pain Possibly Felt in the Trunk for
About Two Minutes, but Conscious
ness in the Severed Head Apparently
Completely Departed.
From the Philadelphia Press.
A very interesting volume has just been
published at Paris in which Dr. Paul Loye,
under title of la Mort par la Decapita-
tion," studies the question as to whether, aft
er decapitation, consciousness survives for
short time in the severed head, and physl-
cal suffering is felt in both parts of the ex-
ecuted body NJ. Loye deals simply and
solely with the scientific aspect of the mat
ter. The present volume is the result of
years of scientific experiments made under
the shadow of the guillotine as well as in the
laboratory.
Every time head falls under the sword
or under the executioner's ak, says DR..
Loye, the imagination of the spectators has,
in the physiognomy of the victim, looked
for proofs of the survival of will and con-
sciousness. The eyes turned, which was a
sign of pain; the lips moved, which showed
that they wanted to speak; the mo, tn
opened in order to bite, in a kind of fuzzy
There is not a movement of the face
WHICH udh UOG De6u Interpreted as d mark Oh
the continuation of feeling. And ever since
the guillotine moved down the heads of
mutitudes during the Reign of Terror,
scientists have stood around the scaffold,
bidding all their humane faculties vanish,
and concentrating their whole intellect on
the one question, ''Does consciousness re-
main after the victims head is severed
from the bodyF
GUILLOTINING DOGS.
In order to be able to speak with author
ity on this grewsome but important SUBJ
iect, DIR. Loye has devoted much time to
the study of decapitation and its immediate
consequences. Before, however proceed
ing to the study Of the human victim of the
arm of the law, he experimental on a num-
Der of dogs. He says:
1.-THE instrument which use for separat-
ing the head from the trunk is constructed
after a model of the gu llotine. 1t is
triangular steel knife surmounted by a
lump of lead weighing about twenty pounds;
it fell from hight of about three yards on
the animals neck. Il The animals
head was put into circular opening formed
of two semi-circular boards, between which
it is firmly fixed. The knife touches the
part just in front of the opening and cuts
the head entirely off, The instru-
ment did its task in less than half a second.
In order to make the knife fall it was only
necessary to let so the cord by which it was
fastened. Notwithstanding the fact that
the dogs neck was covered with good
deal of hair and that its skin was very
thick the cut was absolutely smooth.
'At the moment when the head falls the
mouth is nearly always partly open, as if
the animal were breathing deeply. The
tongue is pressed against the roof of the
mouth or trembleS slightly; the eyelids
closed and show slight contractions; then
the eyes open and roll in their sockets, up
ward, downward and to either side-the
pupil is contracted. At the same time the
jaws open, then close quickly, and all the
facial muscles move in rapid commissions.
The labi al commissures are violently dis
placed, the nostrils culver, the lips tremble
and the ears stand up. All these move
ments together make fearful grimace, by
which the most intense pain and agony
seem to be expressed. This first phase lasts
about ten seconds, after which period of
repose, lasting about five seconds, COM
mences. Two minutes after decapitation
every part of the head becomes rigid and
cadaverOus."
eyes THEY HAD, AND SEE NOT, EARS, AND
HEAR NOT.
Besides these observations, which were
the same on nearly every dog which DR..
Love decapitated for scientific purposes, he
subjected the heads to other tests.
but no decapitated dog has ever re-
sponded by any special move nents to the
restoratives applied to its nervous senses,
whether | whistled or shouted into its ears,
pass ID a striking object before its eyes, irri-
tated its tongue or tried anything else. All
perception of external impressions had
ceased"
Thus it appears that Consciousness disap-
peared Immediately after decapita- ion. The
question now arises whether consciousness
is only suspended, as in state Of syncope,
and can be revived if the head be replaced
in the same physiological conditions i'll
which it was before it was separated from
the body. But this is proved to be impossi-
BILE and thus the conclusion is arrived at
that dogs head, at all events, does not
undergo any more suffering after once the
fatal blow has fallen and that any move
ments are merely muscular.
after the heads the trunks OF decapite-
ted dogs were subjected to number of ex-
periments, discus ing which DR.. Loye
points to tho example OF tn ostriches OF the
Roman Emperor Commodus, who amused
himself by cutting off with sharpened spear
heads the heads of the ostriches running
the race round the circus. To everybody's
astonishment the birds continued to run to
the end Of the course, while their heads lay
at the emperor's feet. But although no dog
has been known to perform such feat, the
trunk Is Dy uO LlOduD IILOLLohlcoo
diately after death.
"Te rose and jumped, like frightened steed,
Then stretched himself and died"
I'm nearly every case the moment after
the knife had fallen the body of the animal
executes several energetic movements with
the hind legs and tail. Sometimes these
movements are so violent that they throw
the animal out Of the hollow In which it
was laid. During one experiment the dogs
body jumped right out Of the hollow, and
to our greatest stupefaction, fell down at
our feet.
"Half minute after the head had been cut
Off the four legs and the tail begin to move;
often these movements are stronger in the
hind legs, and result in stretching the limbs
out to their full extent. Then the muscles
of the trunk aTe greatly contracted, and
this powerful contraction accounts, no
doubt for the tact Of the animals body
jumping out OF the hollow. Sometimes,
Indeed the back Of the animal is quite
arched after the contraction. After two or
three minutes tho spontaneous movements
cease and the corp becomes sim In death
The net result, nc which DIR. Love arrives
after a long and detailed study, IN that de-
capitation puts the animal into a state Of
---tt.fa aud into TINT NJ mora mr.