Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-11-22
DEAD BROUGHT TO LIFE.
REvIvINc ANIMALS APPARENTLY
KILLED By ELECTRIC SHOCK

NllIEO Bl EIGN Inv S'lSSN
Result Of Astonishing Experiments Made
by DIR. r. H. cunninghain-The In
fusion OF Defibrinated Blosd Restored
the Co-Ordinated Beat Of Dead Hearts.
DR.. Richard 81. Cunningham of
Columbia university, New York city.
to the Herald, asserts that he cal
bring the dead to life when death has
been caused by an electric shock.
Dr.. Cunningham hns for q long
time been engaged in making expert
ments ut the Vanderbilt clinic at AM
sterdam avenue and SsztietA street,
on dogs, turtles and frogs He states
that it has been demonstratedbeyond
contradiction that an animal appar-
emily killed by contact with an elec-
trio current and in whose body respi-
ration and circulation have ceased,
may be brought to life.
1t is also asserted by DR.. Cunning
ham that an ordinary industrial cleo
trio current, such rs is used in per-
forming legal executions in New York
state, does not produce instant death,
anu that if it were possible to have in
constant readiness suitable apparatus,
the suspended vital functions aud con-
sciousness could'be restored.
F Experiments, which he had made,
according to the proposition, establish
the fact that in cases where death
follows IN electric shock, it is not
caused by paralysis of tho heart or by
any of the other causes to which
death has he etofore been attributed,
but to fbrilear contraction OF the.
heart, which results in collapse of the
nervous system. In all cases of this
kind, it is claimed, death is preceded
by period of Consciousness, during
which the recipient OF the shock feels,
but at the same time it is improbable
that there is an accompanying sensa-
tion of pain.
DR.. Cunningham says that it is only
in the case of an electric shock where
in the current is so strong that all
the.tis,ues are cooked, and the nervous
system thus destroyed, that death is
instantaneous.
Particular interest is attached to
Dr.. Cunningham's experiments be-
cause of the constantly increasing
number of accidental deaths due to
the greater use Of electricity, and also
because of the electrocution of Grim.
inals, doubt having arisen in certain
quarters as to the desirability of this
means of legal killing,
DR.. Cunningham, rs result Of his
experiments, believes that, while
criminal may not die Immediately
from the effects of an application of
an electrical current, it is not proba-
BILE that the subject is alive by the
time he is passed to the operating
table, it being unlikely that the ner-
vous system has continued to exist
for so long time. The heart in some
instances IS not dead. 1t is the ner-
vous system that hus received the
shock aud exhausted its vitality.
Because a mans respiration and
circulation have been suspended he
has not positively passed the point
where it would be possible to restore
animation. DR.. Cunningham would
not in such cases tempt to induce
artificial respiration, system to
which recourseis often had, but which
DR.. Cunningham believes to be USE
less. In his laboratory he has an ap-
paratus which he has used in expert
nents upon dogs. He has found it to
be absolutely necessary to have a sup
ply of fresh blood at hand. He found
it preferable to have blood from ami
mails Of the same species.
To restore life in human being un-,
der similar conditions, DR.. Cunning
ham believes human blood would be
necessary.
Itwould be necessary for practical
purposes, DR.. Cunningham says, to
have apparatuses in various places
which could be resorted to without
delay. They should be placed in
drug stores or similar establishments.
In cases of contact with electric cur
rents no valuable time would thus be
lost in applying the restoratives.
In describing the experiments which
he has made with dogs, frogs, turtles,
etc., as subjects, DIR. Cunningham
says:
''If, the thorax of all animal be
oroned Immediately after strong
electric current has passed through
the heart via the skin, and the heart
be exposed, it will be seen that al
though the co-ordinated beat Of the
heart as a whole is absent, the little
bundles of muscle fibres still contract
and relax with considerable rigor,
but Us the right cavities of the heart
become more and more distended the
action OF the muscles ceases.
"The quivering is the state known
as fbrillar contraction. In this con-
dition the heart can be restored to its
functions by the perfusion of its blood
vessels with warmed defibrinai ed dogs
blood, diluted with m 8 per cent. sa-
line solutiou. BY means of it have
repeatedly caused the fibrillnting
hearts, after being taken from the
bodies Of Gogs apparently killed by
electricity, TO beat co-ordinately for
an hour. This clearly disprovos the
fact that muscular substance has been
paralyxed or killed by the cnl"ent.
"I have endeavored repe. lily to
electrocute frogs and sna turtle
with the lis volt continuous amo
current, but none could be ed,
and all the frogs fully recovered in
few minutes According to th I.
sensus of opinion writer's on the ,,-
iect OF death by electric shock astee
that such q death il instantaneous.
From my tracings recording the
muscular and nervous contractions,
from the experiences of three of my
patients who have received severe
soocks, and from the published ac-
eounts of sixteen cases of recovery