The morning call., 1894-12-02

Gibbons. II still have some hope of being
allowed TO perform my experiment upon
the body OF an electr0cuted man within
two or three months. | am perfectly cou-
fdent that the alternating current as now
applied in the death cham Der does not kill.
Animation is suspended, of course, and
the knives of the autopsy surgeon are the
real executors of the law. l do not claim
that this apparatus which l brought here
to place in Bellevue Hospital will bring
the dead to life, but | am satisfied as the
result OF long series of experiments upon
animals That it will resuscitate any man
who has received in his body the alternat-
ing current now applied to murderers in
the State prisons, VIZ. 100 volts.
"As you see, the cOntrivance is merely q
double bellows, One-half of which will
send pure air into the lungs while the
other half will pump out the bad air. This
rubber tube can be placed in the mouth
OF the subject, or, preferably. in the
trachea after the operation of tracheOtomy
has been performed. The latter condition
is usually most favorable for working of
the apparatus, because often in cases of
suspended animation it is necessary for the
subject TO be given nourishment through
the mouth. DR.. Fell of Buffalo has been
using an apparatus somewhat similar to
mine for ten years. but this is great i'm
provement on his. DR.. Fell was instru-
mental in having electricity adopted as a
means Of killing murderers, but he has
written me that if my experiments can be
made upon human subjects he desires 10
witness them. He said in his letter: 4
believe there may be cases of suspended
animation in the present method which
might respond to the forced respiration
method and even result in resuscitatiOn.'
''Of course, l do not say that the alter
mating current will not kill men provided
enough power is applied, but at present 100
volts are used, and this is not deadly. DR..
Louis Duncan of tue electrical department
of Johns Hopkins University. agrees with
me IN this when he says: If the eectri-
cal shock does not iDjure or destroy the
nerves or nerve centers the condition of
the man is much akin TO that of one VINO
is about 80 drown. In both cases the lungs
are the principal parts affected In
drowning, as everybody knows, the per-
son can be saved by artificial respiration
if resorted TO in time DR.. William Ii.
Howell, professor of physiology at Johns
Hopkins, has said that my plan is
feasible one. Medical men have never
been able to discover any visible in
iuries of the nerves or nerve centers of a
man who has been electrocuted The OBJ
ject of nv visit to New Y ork is principally
to explain my device 10 several hospital
surgeons, and l want to see an apparatus
similar to this one placed In every hospital
in this city. Any maker of surgical appa-
ratus can turn one out and very cheaply.
L
should be only toe glad to see one Ia the
hands of every physician in the country.
| explained the workings of this appliance
to several Bellevue Hospital physicians
this morning, and l think | shall paw
visit to Warren O'Rourke before l leave
for Syracuse and present it to his hospital.
There have been some instructions
that / may profit pecuniarily by these
bellows. That is not so. l have not, nor
will /, patent the idea, so that any one
may copy or improve. Neither can it be
of any use to me In my profession, as my
practice is not general and would have
no use for the bellows. 1t is no new idea,
for bellows have been used in labora-
tories since the days OF Hppocrates and
Galen, but generally in experiment ting on
animals. About twenty years ago a man
in England made pair of brass bellows
on the same plan as those Dasent has
powerful, however. and in application
they literally tore the lungs to plecea. /
got my idea from having seen DIR. Austin
Flint use a single bellows to show the
action of dogs lungs, and then / grad
ually improved the idea. until now 1 have
the double bellows.
'sOf course the idea of artificial respira-
ton is as old as the bills also. The idea
of DIR. d'Arsonval i consider one of the
best methods and / employed it in the case
of johnson, the criminal electrocuted in
Auburn prison more than year ago. l
don't say that electricity will not kill. 1t
surely will and it is the grandest thing by
which criminals may be killed, but thew
want to change the existing methods
They must, in the first place, construct
dynamos especially for killing and they
must employ continuous current instead
| of an alternating current. AS to my ap-