The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-24
Remarkable Theory Regarding 1t
by DR.. Cinel.
THINKS THE BRAIN LIVES
He Says That the Brain Does Not Die
for at Least Two Hours
After 0uiIiotining
Occurs.

a propostefouS proposition, out the
London Medical Journal. a scientific
organ Of high standing. has just pub
iished and seriously considers a paper
written by DR.. Cinel Of Paris declaring
that the brain may live for hours aft
er the head has been severed from tie
body.
DIR. Chiefs paper is more particular
ly directed to an examination -of the
almost universally accepted theory
that death by the %guillotine is painless
ana instantaneous. DIR. Cinel asserts
and seeks to prove by the results of nu-
merous experiments, hat as the blood
ONE to the head from the larger ves-
sells OF the neck, there Is. after decap-
~itation. scarcely any drain of blood
from the Uranium. the seat of the
BRAIN The brain can thus, he asserts,
find nourishment for IN hour after de-
capitation, during which time the per-
son decapitated retains his or her sens
es OF hearing, smelling n seeing. ABB
solute death OF the brain. DIR. Cinel
claims. does not ensue for three hours.
This startling theory. affecting. as Ii
does. all manner of violent deaths
has been received in this country by
physicians generally and by specialists
especially with ~incredulity, and by a
great many psychologists with con-
tempt. DR.. Francis X. Dercum of 1918
Walnut street, whose opinion upon
such objects Is valued very highly
by the profession. when shown the ca
BILE dispatch containing a brief account
of DIR. Cinel's hypothesis declared that
IL was sheer nonsense. when a mans
head Is on or hen the spinal cord
has been absolutely severed from its
connection with the brain, what is
known generally as death ensues and
the brain has no further sensation. The
whole theory is built upon false prem
ises and cannot be considered serious
ly. A mans head, after 1t has been
severed from the body, has no more
sensation than a stone"
DIR. w. Joseph Hearn. one of the pro-
fessors OF Jefferson college. was inciin-
ed to smile at the idea that the brain
retained consciousness after its sepa-
ration from the body. 1T could not
be possible" said he. THE idea tina
there could be for hours. or even for
seconds. or for a second. life in the
blood at the brain after decapitation
Is fatty contradicted by scientific ex-
periments of years. Such a PROPOSE
ton, II sustained, would overthrow all
scientific theory OF death. The cessa-
ton OF the circulation and respiration
constitutes death of the entire organ
ISM" DR.. Hearn was reminded of
Oitl wi 1aSt VI ut1dDitdNlOAl
which would appear TO give color to
DIR. Cinel's theory, such as that of
Danton. who Is said to have grinned
when his head was taken from the
basket and held up to the multitude.
There might be a spasmodic move
ment OF the muscles Of the face. but
that proves nothing. A chickens body
iutters after death a there are
nerve centers in all parts OF the body,
but II does not follow that the chick
en- has any sensation after its head
has been chopped of. In man all the
nerve centers are in the brain. The alb
solute stoppage of the circulation, the
very essence of life, instantly produces
death"
lis IL not a matter of undoubted fact
that persons, after having been hung.
their necks broken n pronounced
dead. have been resuscitated and re-
stored to life?"
81 think so,' said the doctor. "bu
in such cases the persons were not re-
ally dead. The circulation had not
been entirely interrupted. and although
the vertebra may have been broken
the spinal cord was not severed. Death
was assumed to have occurred: it had
not actually done so. People have liv-
ed with broken necks. TO be sure. but
none with a severed spinal cord. for
then both respiration and circulation
cease and the brain can hav no fur
ther sensation"
Another surgeon. and perhaps since
the death Of DIR. Agnew the most en-
inent in Philadelphia. who did not de-
sire. however. to be quoted I'm the first
person. said that the mere fact that
some blood might be left in the brain
after death. and that in Il molecular
death had not taken place. was rot
enough to establish a theory of the re-
tention OF the senses after ~decapita-
ton. He did not think any proof of
a more than mere inferential nature
could he furnished to sustain DIR. Gin
els propos .tion. The article. however.
when read In full. might show some
Interesting facts which could not lie
discussed until furnished in detail.
The London dispatch did not appear
to be definite enough TO furnish much
opportunity for intelligent comment.
DIR. Charles X. Mills is probably as
bright authority as could be quoted
upon the novel theory Of DIR. Cinel.
DIR. Mills said that he could not be eN-
pected to condemn absolutely even so
apparently preposterous a hypothesis
as that advanced by the French ply
stefan without reading the paper quot
ed as n whole. But II the cable dis
patch properly described DIR. Cinel's
article he could see enough objections
to IL to Justify a positive denial Of It's
value I'm a scientific sense. however
plausible and taking a color may I've
given the idea in the minds of the
general public. DIR. Mills called stten-
ton to the distinction between mole
cular and matt death. The one is
the death of the whole organism, the
cessation Of all vital functions. DIR.
Mills quoted from n standard work
upon the phenomena of death TO clear
ly put this idea Of the two deaths
which makes up the complete annihil-
alton OF all life. Somatic death. which
occurs when a person = decapitated or
his neck is broken. is the ~essatio OF
all vital functions OF the body. or the
death OF the whole body. This IL the
popular idea OF death. The cessation
of the circulation OF the blood through
the body. and OF the respiration. would
constitute somatic death. The precise
PERIOD universal molecular