The morning call., 1892-09-04
WORDS AFTER DEATH.
Can Words Be Uttered by the Head OF e
Man who Has Been Guiilotined?


ST. Louis Globe. Democrat
This strange problem has been agitating
the minds of the Parsians ever since the
famous dynamiter's decapitati0n. One of
the journals of the French capital had
come out with the news that RavachOPs
head was severed from the trunk in the
moment when the great anarchist had just
begun to exclaim "Vive Panarchie - To
the horror of the bystanders the trunkless
head. while rolling in the sawdust in
the basket ready for its reception, fin
ished the sentence in distinct accents.
And. now the students of history re-
call CHASTITY incidents Of the great
French Revolution. Thus for example, 1t
is known that Charlotte Corday'S severed
head exhibited her cheeks reddenIng from
shame at the stroke she received in the face
from tie hand OF coward while bent under
the fatal AK. II the cOuntenance Of the be-
headed may redden with indignation why
should not the tongue, which the gulll0tine
left intact, continue to speak? This aud
other related "reminiscences of the reign OF
terror are revived IN ventilating the ques-
ton as to the probability Of Rayacnofs
"posthumous exclamation" Not 10 be out
| done by its competitors, the GaulOis sent
its reporter to interview some Of the most
prominent physicians of Paris.
Their opinions, as might be expected, diff
fer Or. Fauvel declares that he cannot
discover any reason why he should con-
slider the statement tina. the head OF Rava-
chol had continued talking after his decap-
itation either incredible or improbable.
THE ak of the guilIotine," he says,
Strikes the neck below the vocal
chords and these may therefore continue
to yibrate after the beheadng. The
sound uttered strikes the roof OF the mouth
and escapes through the lips. Hence the
mouth of beheaded person is able 10 emit
a rapid but peTceptible sound" In support
| Of his assertion the professor adduces the
fact Of legs that have been cut of in some
cases continuing TO move for hail an hour
after the Operation.
DIR. Porter, more skeptcal than his
famous colleague. doubts the truth Of the
report IF after the fall of the AK any
sound was heard, IL can not have been an
articulated sound, for 1t proceeded not from
the head but from tue trunk, and was
merely the continuation OF a movement ac-
companled with sound" Professor VIII
bert recalls the we'll known case of
criminal who promised 10 give his physi-
clans a sign to inform them whether lie con-
tinued alive after his decaplta ti0n-he would
hold his left eve shut When his he ad
was lifted from the basket the doctors dis
covered. to their astonishment, that the
right eye was open and the lett one closed.
Dr. Dujardin Beau-Me,Z relates that the
duek-in French canard-will frequently
continue to utter sounds after its head has
been cut eff. The learned doctor, however,
does not omit TO explain this phenomenon by
the fact that the larynx OF duck is situated
much lower than that OF man. The ducks
piping proceeds from the trunk. not from
the bill, he informed his interviewer, the
reporter. AS TO the question whether the
latter understood the doctors allusion to the
canards of the organ he represented, the
Gaulols leaves its readers In blisslul ignor-
aRce.