The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-23
BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.
A LINE THAT Is SoMETINEs MOI
WELL 1IARKED.
Strange stories of Human Activity Az
ter Decnpitatton.

| The first point to which our atteh-
ton may be directed is the collecting OF
| evidence regarding the immediate eHec'
of severe and mortal injury on the SUD
! iect thereof One of the pest known IL
| lustrations of the fact that such INJURY
does not produce immediate oeatn' VI
at least that absolute cessation OIL an
movement which we popuially iecoS
ntza as the main feature of life,s end
inc. is that afforded by the case OF cap
tain Nolan. The captain headed the
fo mons charge of the Light Brigade at
! T2ala1,lava In the course of his duties
4 he was struck IN the chest by paft Vi
shell, the missile tearing the chest open
and wounding the heart hliisiahe
gives a graphic account OF the lhciucht.
1.-THE sword" he says dropped lroili
his hand, but the arm with which lie
was waving it the moment before sun
remained high uplifted IN the alr' anu
the grip of the practised horsemall' re-
naming as vet unrelaxed, still held MIN
firm in his saddle Missing the pertect
hand Of his master, and finding the ac-
customed eovernance now succeeded by
the dangling reins, the horse all at once
wheeled about, and began to gallop
hack upon the front of the advancing
hr;oado Then from what had been
Nolan-and his form was still erect III
tbe saddle. his sword arm still high in
| the air-there burst forth cry so
strange and appalling that the nearer
who rode nearest him called II uhear W
ly. And in truth, [ imagine the souilo
resulted from no human WILL pul raVliei
from those spasmodic forces Wfllch iii''S
act upon the bodily frame When NE as
power has ceased. The firm seated
rider. with arm uplfted and stiff, could
hardly be ranked with tine living, Thc
shrek men heard rending the air was
scarce other than the skriek OF
CORPSE The dead horseman rode on TIL
he passed through the interval of the
Twelfth Iight Dragons, Then at last
he dropped from the saddle"
G. l.. Kilmer who passed through the
civil war in America, in his turn gives
an interesting parallel case to that OF
Nolan. He tells us that a sergeant IN
charge of the Ninth corps on the Con-
federate works east of Pittsburg leaped
on the parapet, and with his cap IN ms
left hand and his gun in the flSnt
cheered his comrades onward, A shell
decapitated him at this moment as
completely as knife could have done
saws Mr.. Kilmer, but the tall form
continued erect for some seconds, "the
arms still waving frantically, but with
ever lessening sweep and power, until
the. forces of the body collapsed, when
the headless trunk toppled oyer, to the
ground, .e.ty,t
| nrJ thG rirclm-
stances above roted--that men killed
instantly, in the. popular acceptance OF
the short term, may continue to execute
apparently definite and purposiVe
movements. A somewhat CHASTITY reel
tai referring to a guilotined man mas
been generally credited to the renoWn
of the Parts School of Medicine, ana re-
lates to the same curious features that
mark the battlefield. The Partisan case
was that Of Dr. De Ia Pommerals' VINO
was guillotined for the crime of muir
der by poisoning. The story goes thai
some of his confreres waited on DE IA
. Pommerais before his execution, and
informing him that it was their desire
in the interests of science to test Wheth
err any degree of consciousness remainec
in the decapitated head just after exc
, cution asked him, if possible, to agree
ot,,o ,o,,,o sien ar token by way OF
49,, ,ro1jar, he Ia Poouerais
al.,,,tosoad ~ tbo eueoestion and it is
- 49, sao,,,ine possession of his
49, t. fo1l ond nrevanting furthe,
, hemorrhage, the doctors shouted into
~ aar - tboir FORMER confrere, de
: ',.,ai,o ~ hin, 10 rive some RESPONSE
= az - 10 a,os was said TO slowly oper
, ~ 49, o,d +ba, all svnptoms of life
I , ,,ritar ro,narlxs that fresh
= .,.,,,.t,.oa hoad hoe haan known te
! y rast,,ras of t1e month and te
7 80 ~ AVA, whom a bvstander taunt
= :. ho,,o haer unable to trac,
4.4h e +,,o no la pon,n, era |,
-. ~, +to eo,,,,oa If the last named
= ,oi5o,.t h,,+ +haro ie no reason why
. ,4,s nl,,,,,,d III hove bean correctly re
$3.50 MN ,rould denend on tn,
a ~ 10 az, of h,ood IL, tha case of tn,
-, * r,,i,1o4trad criminal in re
. - ~ owi.+aroe of movement o.
, 7p..ze.a,,.,,ors,
E ,i.+,,o+ ref1action Of tn
,a,;.1 - ~ ,,ita1 state in the yer,
tro,,oo,,t Of ON, nervous system
y ~ ot,iaf ,,assos of that system, al
a a,,sr,, 80 lyno,us consist of the brail
~ W. srino1 onrd and a second sys