The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-11-21

CltCf 6CtiC 11idIIflSf' d JI
THE DOCTOR'St.T THEORY,

have lately had many reports of French
ideas on the same esubject; but 1 believe
I am right in claimingfl priority to any
thing that has BEEN discovered am
most decidedly of the opinion that a large
percentage of cases I'M which supposed
death has been caused by electricity have
really been nothing more than suspended
animation, and that if they had been prop
erly operated upon without delay, life
might easily have been drought back
Since the first electrical execution the
case of Kemmler, IIhave been investiga
ing the subject, and have lately made
several successful Experiments with ami
mails In my life-Rsto4ing process drugs
and chemicals are eften,dlsed. 1t is also
sometimes necessary to inject a solution
into the arteries. such as has been tried
upon people who have bled to death.
RABBITS RESTORED TO LIFE.
MY experiments with rabbits, for in
stance, has shown that they can be appar-
emily killed with a voltage of from 500 to
$780, and still be restored to perfect life
and health. Now, it may be assumed that
rabbit is more easily killed than HUI
man being. But l have used on one of
these little animals 1000 more volts than
has ever been used in electric execution,
and successfully brought the rabbit back to
life
"a rabbit under these circumstanc
should be more difficult to revive than
man. If a rabbit can be restored, why not
human being, providing he is healthy?
During my years of practice l have had
three cases of persons struck by lightning
who wers supposed to be dead. They had
all the Semblance of DEATH They We're en-
tirely unconscious, and the accepted signs
of living were suspended. Yet they We're
revived 1t was a great mystery, and one
that will take ages to be perfectly under
stood. But l will give this much out The
treatment must follow the electric shock al
the earliest possible moment if success
would be assured However, 1 have restored
a cat which had been apparently dead fully
10 minutes.
Il believe more murderers pay the penalty
for their misdeeds upon the dissetng table
than in the electric chair. That is my raa-
son for advocating sta tie law allowing re
suscitation or attempted resuscitation to be
reSorted to at all electrocutions
TAYLOR WAS ALIVE TOO.
Take the case of Murderer Taylor. for
example. Thirty minutes had elapsed from
the time the current was turned off Then.
In some unaccountable manner his head
fell to one side This probably started res
piratiOn. Taylor was alive and we'll his
way to recovery when the physicians in at
tendance Immediately dossd him with drugs.
The public drew its own conclusions from
this manner of treatment.
II do not want to resuscitate criminals.
When they are dead, so much the better
for the community. 1 want to prove that
electricity does not necessarily kill out
right SO that many accidental sufferers
may be saved. If Gov. Flower will sane
ton my making an experiment upon the
body of Wilson, now under sentence of
death at Auburn prison, 1 will prove The
value of my inventions and the truth OF
my asSertions.'
WILSON READY TO TRY IT.
The convict Wilson has been approached
upon the subject of submitting his BODY
for experimental purposes after he has
suffered the penalty of the law in the cleo
trio chair, and he isAQuite willing that DR..
Gibbons should attempt TO bring him back
to life. At first he demurred to the treat
ment, on the plea that he would not care
to eXpiate his crimes a second time in the
doctors complete saecess
He has been assured that under those
circumstances the governor would be
strongly appealed to for clenency TO a
man who has suffered SO much and has
been passively instrumental in proving a
fact so valuable to the interests of science
and the welfare of all workers in cleo
tricity. n -
If the governor will consent to this trial
of the doctors skin, Wilson will be given
the fullest extent of the dynamos and
after being pronounced dead by the at
tending physicians, Or. Gibbons will be on
hand with his instruments and appara tus
ready to test his belief that life is not
actually extinct If the appeal now lying
with Gov. Flower receives favorable con-
sideration it Is possibie that a new epoch
in the history of electricity is at hand.
The mighty power has been harnessed for
mans uses; it has become to some extent
his servant, but its deadly nature has
brought terrible disaster at times. 1t re
hains to be seen if the Syracuse scientist
has found the means to rob it of its sting.
THE APPARATUS.
The bellows attachment, which ferns the
most important part of the resnctdting
apparatus, is SO arranged that while one
section initiates the other acts
haustng power. The doctors theory is
simplicity itself. 1t merely consists in sup
plying artificial respiration for a while. 1t
is in his perfected apparatus that the Sc
cret of his success lies
Speaking of the various currents of cleo
tricity which are supposed to cause death,
the doctor said
doubt if it has ever killed. Life can be
stored to those affected by this form of
electricity, with almost certainty of sue
cess, if proper methods be resorted to. 1t
is only necessary to get air in and out of
the lungs.
Victims are unable to do this themselves.
If it can be done for them their lives are
saved. In cases of supposed drowning We
also have suspended animation but the
same treatment will not be effective. in
the drowned we have water to expe and
in the electrocuted We have not this ad
ditional difficulty.
ITO produce artificial respiration by Syl-
westerns method" continued DR.. Gibbons
"by extending the hands over the head can
only be successfully performed by one skill
ed in this branch of science. A much more
effective method Is to place a hand of the
operator over the lower ribs Oh either side
of the person affected, which expels the air
within the lungs; and the chest when re-
leased causes the lungs to expand and in
hale. This is the plan l adopted with the
body of Johnson, with such startling re-
suits.
Some ply sicans insert the nozzle of an
apparatus through the mouth into the
laryngeal entrance, as they would introduce
a tube for intubation of the larynx. My
invention easily provides for supplying air
or oxygen. One chamber is arranged
with valves that when depressed it forces
air into the lungs, and the other chamber
of the bellows has valves which operate in
the contrary direction. Oxygen may he
used by attaching the apparatus to a cylin-
der of the gas.
"Some physicians will probably find it
more convenient to do tracheotomy and in
sert the distal into the trachea, thus per-
forming respiration. With this apparatus
artificial breathing may be carried for
hours at the option CT the operator"
In the interests of humanity DR.. Gibbons
makes his appeal to Gov. Flower to test
his invention the body of electro
cuted murderer. In the interests of sci
ence the governor is asked to grant this
appeal.
HE HAS TAKEN $500 VOLTS.
George w. Greenwood, who is assisting
associated with electrical industries since
1884. He has been an eyewitness of more
than half dozen accidents, the sufferers
from all of which have been restored. He