Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1895-10-26
SURE SIGNS OF DEATH.
There Are None. and the Most Slsillful
Doctors May Make Mistakes.

IheI0 are Nohe, anu INC MoNt Nhlliiul
Doctors May Make Mistakes.
"Apparcnt death from an electric
shock, said u physician, is ono of
tho most deceptive things III the
world. Those who opposed tho en-,
ployment of electricity for tho in.
Fiction of capital punishment in
New York wcrc able to otto tho
opinions Of some of tho most emf
ncnt authorities on this subject,
among Thorn Sir Benjamin Ward
Richardson, who, in an address be.
foro the Medical Society of London
some years ago ON The Absolute
Signs of Death, took a strong posi-
ton against the employment of cleo
tricity in tho case Of murderers and
asserted that us the result of q So
rios Of careful experiments he had
boon forced to the conclusion that it
could not be relied upon to produce
death.
"Thc fact is that when We arc
asked to say definitely what con-
stitutcs death, so far as outward
and visible signs go, we doctors
must confess with tho rest of man
kind that we can mako no Conclu-
sive answer any moro than we can
if you ask us to define life. Except
where decomposition has set in or
where Il body is SO injured as to put
the matter beyond question there is
always a possibility of error. No
physician should sign u death certif-
icato in the case of a patient unless
he was present at the final moment
or unless he has made an examina-
ton after death is reported by those
in attendance, although | know this
precaution is not always taken. |
have never had any cases Of rccov-
cry after apparent death in my own
practice, but | have known of them,
and many others are recorded,
For example, there is the in
stance of a physician i'll Now York
city who was called to SEQ student
at n young ladies seminary. Ho
was unable correspond Immediately,
and upon his arrival he was met at
the entrance by one Of the young
woman's fellow students, who said,
It's no use now, doctor; she Is
gone. He went to tho room, where
no found the girl lying as if dead,
Her face was white, and her heart
had ceased to beat. The Othor ply,
sician in attendance, who was pres
ent when the change took place,
pronounced her dead, But the girl,
as tho doctor learned, was subject
to attacks of what is known as
grave hystcriN, and it was during
one of these attacks that she had
apparently passed away, Consider,
ing that under tho circumstances
tho evidences of death were by nc
means conclusive, he rosorted to az
tifcial respiration, with tho result
that the girl recovered completely
md became strong and healthy
woman. Examples of this kind,
while by no means common, are suf-
1iciently numerous to show the dam
ger in which friends and physicians
arc constantly placed of making
mistakes Of tho most shocking ma
turo.
"Somc years ago an award which
had been placed in its hands by
professor in the University Of Romo
was made by the Academy of Sci.
enccs Of Paris for an essay ON tho
question, what Is an lnfalliblc Sign
of Death?' In tho essay for which
the award was mado it was asserted
that death could always be deter
mined by prolonged absence of
boatings of tho heart upon auscul-
tation; that is to say, by listening
either with or without tho stctho-
1t was required, of course,
that tho auScultation should be per.
formed by physician, but this test
was soon shown to DO unreliable by
cases in which it was
tried. The Paris Academy Of Mcdi-
cine has had for number of years
II standing prizo of several thousand
francs beIucathed to it by somo
for u solution of the same
great problem, but it has never been
awarded. ".-Chicago Tribune.