Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1890-09-10
BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE
POSSIBILITY OF REsuscITATING ALL
DEAD PEOPLE.

Were Brought Back to Life.
The unfortunate case OF the mind read
sr, Bishop, upon whom a too previous
autopsy was performed, is likely to effect
. lasting good to humanity Before 1t oc-
curred cases Of apparent yet not real death
were held TO be so extremely rare that not
one In a thousand OF the sensational re-
ports of such were believed by physicians
20 have any foundation whatever; but
they have been carefully studying the sub
Ject and making thorough Investigations,
and the most Of them are now ready to ac.
.cspt that persons are too often considered
- being dead when they are not so in real
ny. Many such cases, absolutely authen-
tic, have been reported.
DR. Clark. Of Indianapolis, tells Of sew
erAl recent cases in his section. One was
that Of woman In Steubenville. o.. who
we pronounced dead by six physicians,
and yet life returned after fourteen days.
Another, or q woman In St. Louis, In
whom only slight sign Of life was acct
dsntally discovered just before the coffin
was 10 be closed. NJ. Brouardel, French
physician, has written upon this subject
and brought out much Of interest. He
considers that the newly born, also young
children and aged and enfeebled persons,
are especially prehsposed to apparent
death. He believes that in infectious dis
eases and algid fevers there are good
many examples Of resurrection; the pto-
maines he considers to have characteristic
anasthetic properties; injected into
frog. the latter assumes any given cata
leptic properties that may be desired.
The physician is most apt to be deceived
by hysterical persons, who are capable Of
living like alternating animals In per
sons convalescing from grave diseases syn
cope is easily induced at the moment the
patient rises; the deficient cerebral circula-
ton and venous stagnation in the lower
limbs are favorable conditions to the oc
currence Of apparent death. NJ Brouai
del relates the case Of criminal who was
hung in Boston at 10 a. m, taken down at
twenty-five minutes past 10 a. m. and
transferred TO the anatomical amphithea-
tire an hour thereafter, when his pulse re
commenced TO beat On opening the tho
rax the pulse was ssen to beat forty min
ute, and 1t stopped beating at a quarter to
SD. m Hoffman tells of similar case.
THE DEAD BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE.
During the past two years many cases Of
recovery after apparent death from cleo
tricity have been reported, and in some OF
them there was no sign Of life for be-
tween two and three hours NJ. Lester re
corded seven cases where the subjects,
under the action of lightning, had re
manned apparently dead for periods vary
ing from several minutes to three hours.
Physicians who took the observations
stated that no pulse could be felt at all,
the excitstion having been strong enough
10 stop the hearts action. A few years
ago scarcely q physician could be found
who believed it possible for person to re
turn 20 life after having been buried even
for day. But now the fact finds ready
acceptance that people have been buried
from eight to fifteen days and yet been re
suscitated
An interesting and physiological fact
bearing upon this subject has recently
been brought out by experiments upon
dogs with curare, the substance which the
South American Indian uses TO poison his
arrows This poison paralyzes the lungs
nrst and afterward the heart, and when
given to dogs they generally fall apparent
ly dead within five minutes But in all
instances where artificial respiration was
commenced before the heart stopped and
persisted in for a sufficient length of time,
recovery took place, the heart being by
this means kept at work until the poison
was eliminated by the lung Accidents in
which occur much the same physiological
changes as are produced by curare are not
very infrequent, and from these conclu-
sions Of value can be drawn. Deaths un-
der chloroform and ether are occasionally
reported. In this class of cases the hope
of resuscitation would seem to be even
greater than is usual in those of sudden
death.
Where a person who has been under
treatment appears to have died. even if
suddenly and Unexpectedly, il is quite
common custom of the relatives among
all classes TO depend upon their own dag
nosis OF death and to at once lay out the
body, send for the undertaken, etc.
WHAT PHYSICIANS MIGHT DO.
The doctor is usually informed of the
unhappy occurrences; seldom, however,
until several hours afterward, the princi-
pal object of notifying him being to pre-
vent his making another visit. Very
likely, in consequence of this custom, many
lives are lost which might be saved were
the physician called at once and efforts to
resuscitate were made by him.
There Is one point to be considered In
this connection. In cases Of sickness people
generally show the least possible sense 1t
is a notorious fact that in every case Of
death, except from some such chronic dis
ease as consumption or cancer, they will
lay the blame on the attending physician,
if it is a possible thing to do. Were he
called in directly after patient of his had
died and he at on6 employed artificial
respiration OF tried to stimulate the heart
by hypodermic injections the chances are