Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-25
THE CASE OF MIR. BISHOP.
Views of an Army Surgeon upon the
Matter.
THE PHENOMENA OF cATAIEPsy FROM PROFESS
SIGNAL STANDPOINT ELEMENTARY FACTS
ABOUT THE HUMAN sYsTEM-wHAr THE KNIFE
WOULD DISCOVER.
To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:

To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
Noting your very conservative editorial para
graph in Saturdays STAR, and also the state
ment in the New York Herald to the effect that
the friends Of Mr.. Bishop, the deceased mind
reader, should lay the facts before grand Jury,
am constrained to offer some suggestions
upon the subject through the columns of your
valuable paper
The phenomena Of catalepsy were investi-
gated as long ago as 1850 by Braid, of Edin-
bugh. He records large number of well
authenticated cases among the East Indians.
Men have voluntarily gone into this cataleptic
state; have been buried alive, and have re-
manned in sealed and guarded grave for
many days, and have then been disinterred and
resuscitated from apparent death.
Such cases are about common as death
from a stroke of lightning, and, in Mr.
Bishops case, they are usually the result of
some popularity of the nervous organization.
heightened and magnifed by the habit of
voluntarily inducing this cataleptic condition.
The vital processes are not actually stopped;
they go on, but slowly.
ELEMENTARY FACTS ABOUT CIRCULATION.
hasty consideration of some few elementary
facts connected with the circulation may serve
to show how far catalepsy.differs from death.
uiiu INV sIldIl Is the Chance tDaC q living DOuV
should be carved by the scalpel of the anat-
| omist. Life may be considered as a constant
combustion. In the blaze of an ordinary fire
oxygen is taken up from the atmosphere and
combines with the chemical elements of the
fuel to make carbon di-oxide, better known as
carbonic-aeid gas. This comparatively simple
! process occurs at high temperature and with
! great rapidity.
HOW FUEL is SUPPLIED.
In the human organism fuel is supplied by
our food and drink, the proximate principles of
| which, the peptonized albumenoids, the ptyal-
| lied and fermented starches and sugars. and
| the emulsifed fats, are conveyed from the
stomach and lntestines to the tissues, dissolved
| or suspended in the serum of the blood The
! oxygen is supplied by the air which we inspire.
In the lungs 1t comes into almost direct con-
tact with the blood. and is absorbed by the red
! corpuscles of the vital fnid.
These microscopic cells. the red blood cor
puscles, give up their oxygen to all the tissues
| OF the body. and take from them. the usual
| product OF combustion, carbon di-oXide: and
| returning to the lungs, the carbonc acid gas is
| gotten rid of with the expired air. The re-
| mander Of the waste of the tissues (the ashes
| OF the fire. are conveyed in the serum to the
| proper organs of eXcretion.
| We thus see that the blood is at once the
| feeder and consumer of all the tissues. 1t is
| brought TO the right side of the heart by the
veins, thence pumped into the lungs, where it
! 10 utCdIDOuILCu anu OAFEGnateu. ana Is re-
/ turned to the left side of the heart whence it
/ Is sent out through the arteries, which ter
! inmate in the fine capiiiaries. and they COM
plete the circle by uniting to form the veins.
| THE CATALEPTIC STATE.
| Now, in this state of trance or catalepsy this
| process of waste and repair continues just the
same, but more slowly and at still lower tenn
perature The fires are merely banked, they
! are not put out 1t is a condition resembling
/ IhHr nj
| blooded animals. The cataleptic breathes but
| slowly, his blood is pumped but slowly by the
| heart. and he lives upon his own tissues. thus
! gradually wasting for the time. Such condi-
ton looks very like death. but most careful
! and thorough examination, such as would be
made in case where the body was that of
known cataleptic, would undoubtedly result In
the detection of a slight futter of the heart or
movement of the chest in inspiration. AS we
| have seen, the blood is the carrier of all the
principles of life to the tissues and takes away
from them the results OF their waste.
WHEN DEATH RESULTS.
At the moment when either process is stopped
| once and for all the man is dead. There is not
| any change in the individual cells Of most of
the organisms; but nevertheless. the silver cord
is loosed, and the golden bowl is broken at the
fountain. Now death always comes from the
brain, the heart, or the lungs (''the tripod of
hfe"), for the destruction OF the functions of
any one of these three will stop the circulation
OF the blood, that is to say, result in the death
of the organism. In the brain lie the nerve
centers, which animate the heart, and their
paralysis will stop that organ, generally at
once, but it may continue to throb haltngly for
little time after the destruction of the brain
centers from its own inherent energy. as it has
within itself ganglia which partially indie
pendent OF the superior centers and as the
heart, more especially in cold-blooded animals,
possesses an essential irrtability which will cause
| 1t TO beat even after removal from the body
If the heart is stopped either by the over
towering Of the nerve centers in the brain or
by the formation of a clOt within itself the
! blood supply to both lungs and brain is shut
off as well as that to the body at large.
II the lungs become so congested or disabled
that they fail to permit the interchange of car
| bonlc acid and oxygen the man is killed by
carbonlc acid poisoning. In other words he
| suffocates, and when the blood in the nerve
centers at the base of the brain become sur
charged with this poison those centers are also
destroyed, and their destruction stops both
lungs and heart.
The point to which wish to call attention is
the inter-dependence of these three vital
organs. II any one Of them is injured beyond
repair the other two may continue mechan-
ical action for very short time, but the death
of one is the actual death of them ALL Hence
| II the attending physicians in this case of Mr.
Bishop can show such an injury to any one OF
these three they are at the worst guilty only of
carelessness, but surely not of any grave fault.
WHAT THE KNIFE WOULD SHOW.
But although the signs Of death are eener-
| ally SO evident and apparent even to the I'M
professional observer, the use of the knife
upon the supposed corpse renders the proof
about as positive as any fact in the range of
human experience well may be. The arteries
having elastic coats, contract and force the
blood into the veins as soon as the hearts
action ceases to fill them, and hence are found
empty after death. Now, il upon making an
incision there was no arterial haemorrhage, it
showed at once that the circulation had stopped
and as l have endeavored to show, when the
circulation has stopped the life has stopped
And it is to be presumed that unusual care
must have been employed in the case and that
| the slightest arterial haemorrhage must have
arrested the hand Of the operator.
A CASE IN POINT.
The only instance of q mistake Of this kind
having occurred, which has ever come to my
knowledge, was in the case of the Able Privost,
and that occurred in 1863. He was stricken
with apoplexy, and almost Immediately after
ward his body was ordered to be opened To
the horror Of the operator shrek from his
subject showed that he was still alive. The ex-
animation had proceeded so far, however, that
the unfortunate able died Of the injuries re-
ceived at the hands OF the surgeon.
We thus see that such an occurrence while
possible, is extremely rare, and it is fair to sup
pose that the progress of medical science has