The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-20
CAN INFUSE new LIFE
DIR. CUNNINGHAM SAYS 1T IS pos
SIBLE TO REVIVE ELECTRO
CUTED MEN
CONSCIOUS FOR AN INSTANT

After Deadly Current.
Dr. Richard H. Cunningham, who for
years has studied the effects of electric
shock on men and animals, believes in
electrocution. He does not believe how
ever, that the condemned man becomes
unconscious the instant the man at the
switch applies the current, says the New
York Press
L have had as patients" he says, "elec-
trlclans who have received severe shocks
In power house accidents. I have talked
with men who have come in contact with
live wires out-of-doors. I have examined
the bodies of persons who have met
death by electricity, some by accident.
some through sentence by the court, and
In the university laboratory have made
many experiments on animals alive but
under the influence of ether Of course,
too, l have kept up with the literature
on the subject of the effects of electricity
on man and beast. These things have
been part Of my regular daily work for
years, and I believe that the majority
or persons who have died from electric
shock could have been resuscitated had
the proper means been at hand before the
effects Of the shock were over I have
| had these means in the laboratory when
experimenting on unconscious animals I
have had them with corps of trained
assistants ready to begin the work of re-
suscitation at the exact second necessary
l do not say that all this could be part Of
an ambulance or drug store outfit, how
ever. 1 state what science can do with
| yaII
| ticed in handling such equipment
| Without study and experiment one
cannot learn just how electricity kills a
man. 1 might go to a thousand electro
| cutions, all of them done thoroughly with
the best possible appliances, and not get
| any scientific information as to just what
killed any one of the condemned men.
should not doubt that the men were dead,
| for I believe that electrocutions are effec-
| tive and the least evil way Of inficting
capital punishment but unless I could
attach the proper physiological apparatus
to the person before he received the cur
rent, so that 1 could record and obtain
a graphical register of the phenomena
that occur during and after the passage
of the current, Should not gain valuable
knowledge.
CONSCIOUS FOR AN INSTANT
'T believe those who come to death
through electricity know when the cuI-
rent enters the body and are conscious of
it for a distinctly recognizable space of
time. They have time to think about it,
in fact, for a man can do a lot of think
ing in a fifth of a second. do not be-
lieve the current has left anyone con-
sciOus for a longer space, however, and
I believe it did not hurt, even during that
fifth of a second. Of course, I did not
| learn this from the animals 1 experiment.
ed on, because they We're unconscious
some time before the experiment began,
as well as during it. 1 have learned it
from thoroughly trained and educated
electricians who have come to me for
treatment, and from much testimony that
other electricians have read in papers
before various scientific societies. There
is thorough realization of the fact that
the current is 'on'-that it is going
through tine body. All who have eX-
perienced a strong shock agree in this.
lone cannot say with anything like GER
tainty the amount of electricity that went
through the body of any Of these cleo
tricians, because it is hard to say how the
contact was 1t was accidental. In
| perfect contract the electrodes are against
the skin, and the skin is mOistened with
salt water A man with dry skin does
not receive electricity as easily as one
| whose skin is damp. Then, clothing may
have interviewed, which would have a ten
! dency to refuse a current A case was
reported from FRANCE in 1895, in which
man who had climbed up to do work on
some telephone wires received 1850 volts.
The Dublin Review seemed to think it
was a terrible reflection on those states
in America that had substituted cleo
tricity for hanging. This Is the case as
reported:
1.-The wires being held in position by
small posts fixed to wall by cramping
irons the lineman was sitting astride of
the bar of the lower cramping iron, fool
ishly holding one of the conducting wires
with one hand The telephone wire which
he had taken up with him was resting on
the cramping iron, and it accidentally
touched the conducting wire. There was
a short circuit through the body of the
man, the current entering by one hand
and passing out through his thigh. How
| long the current was thus ShOrt-circuited
| was not known, but it certainly was for
| some minutes. The superintendent in
charge of the apparatus at Epinay ow
| ing to the sparkling of the terminals, sus-
| pected that there was a short circuit
! somewhere on the line, and telephoned for
! the machinery to be stopped About
| quarter of an hour afterward Picone and
| Leblanc, we'll known electricians, arrived
| at ST. Denis and found the man sitting in
| the same position and apparently dead.
| Immediately after taking him down,
| which consumed about nan an hour, they
| went through the usual process of pro-
! ducing artificial respira ton by raising the
| arms, opening the mouth, etc. After
| while the patient began 10 breathe and
| in about two hours he was able to speak.
| He appears TO have felt no further evil
| effects from his accident except two
| burns, one on his hand and the other
| on his thigh.
1T is altogether unlikely that the man
| received more than an exceedingly small
fraction of those 1850 volts through his
| body He was burned on his hand and
on his thigh, which shows that an arc
| formed at each Of these places. If the
| contact had been perfect the current
would not have burned the lineman.
ELECTRIC CHAIR VICTIMS.
Those who object to electrocutiol and
who, nevertheless, believe in the death
| penalty, say that the current leaves the
victim still alive for those making the
autopsy to finish the work. | believe tie
man is absolutely dead before the au-
| topsy and that any attempt to revive
him later shan u few seconds after the
current is shut of! would Re ineffectual
Remember, too. that at hangings the rope
is not always adjusted properly and that
the victim strangles; sometimes he has
to be hanged over again. DR.. j. A.
O'NciL has said: The law requires the
post-mOrtem mutilation. 1t Is In fact,
| part of the penalty, for as it reveals no
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