The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-19
BETWEEN LIFEAND DEATH
Strange Stories of Human Activity
After DecapitatiOn.
The Singular Case of Paris
Physician Who Was GriiIotined
for the Crime of Gurder-An IL
iustratiOn Presented by n Com
fcderate Soldier at Petersburg.

tions of the fact that such injury does not
produce immediate death, or at least that
absolute cessation of all movement which
we popularity recognize as the main fea: ure
of LIES ending, is that afforded by the casa
of Captain Nolan. The captain headed the
famous charge of the Light Brigade at
Balaklava. In the course of his duties he
was struck in the c,iest by part of she'll,
the missile tearing the chest open and
wounding the heart. Kinglake gives a
graphic account of the incident. The
sword ne says. dropped from his hand,
but the arm with which he was waving it
the moment before still remained high
uplifted in the air and the grip of the
prscticed horsemen, remaining as yet unre-
Taxed, still held him firm in his saddle.
Missing the perfect hand OF his master,
and finding the accustomed governance now
succeeded by the dangling relns, the horse
all at once wheeled about, and began to
| gallop back upon the front of the advsnc-
ing brigade. Then, from what had been
I Nolan-and his form was still erect in the
saddle, his sword arm still high in the
atr-there burst forth a cry so strange and
appalling that the bearer who rode near
est him called il ulearthly. And In truth
imagine, the sound resulted from no
| human WILL but rather from those spas
modic forces which may act upon the bod
/ lily frame when life as a power has ceased.
Inc hrm seated rider, with arm uplifted
ana stun could hardly be ranked with the
| living. The shrek men heard rending the
/ air was scarce other than the shrek of a
I corpse. The dead horseman rode on Till
| he passed through the interval Of the
; Twelfth Light Dragons. Then at last he
dropped from the saddle
| G. L. Klimer, who passed through the
| civil war in America, in his turn gives an
| interesting parallel case to that of Nolan
! He tells us that sergeant in charge Of
the Ninth Corps on the Confederate works
/ east OF Petersburg leaped on the parapet
and with his cap IN his left hand and his
gun in the right cheered his comrades
onward. A shell decapitated him at this
moment as completely as a knife could
have DONE" says Mr. Klimer, but the
| tall form continued erect for some seconds,
! the arms still waving fInntically, but with
ever lesseaing sweep and power, until the
forces of the body collapsed, when the
headless trunk toppled over to the
| ground
/ We may regard as facts the circumstances
above noted-that men killed instantly
( in the popular acceptance of the short
Z
! definite and purposive movements. A
somewhat CHASTITY recital referring to a
guillotined man has been generally cred
| tied to the renoNn of the Paris School OF
Medicine. and relates to the same curious
features that mark the battlefield. The
/ Partisan case was that Of DR.. De la Pom
merais, who was guillotined for the crime
OF murder by poisoning. The story goes
that some Of his confreres waited on De
a I'M r-1fc hefa fs L.,
| informing him that it was their desire in
| the interests of science to test whether
| any degree OF consciousness remained in
| the decapitated head just after execution
| asked him, If possible, to agree to give
| some sign or token by way OF solving the
problem. De la Pommerais acquiesced in
| the suggestion and it is said that Sc
curing possession of his head as it fell
/ and preventing further hemorrhage. the
doctors shouted into the ear of their for
mer confrere, demanding OF him to give
| some response.
"One OF the eyes wac said to slowly
| open and shut, and then all symptoms of
! life ceased. A writer remarks that a
| freshly guillotined head has been known
! to make gestures OF the mouth and to move
/ the eyes when a bystander tainted It.
/ have been unable 10 trace either the truth
of the De la POmmerais story or the source
reason why both should not have been cor
! recty reported. Much would depend on
| the rapid flow OF blood in the case of the
head Of the guillotined criminal in respect
| Of the existence of movement or conscious
| ness.
We see q very distinct reflection OF the
| duality Of our vital state in the very
arrangement of our nervous system. The
| chief masses of that system, as everyone
! knows, consist of the brain and the
| spinal cord and second system of nerve
] masses called the sympathetic system also
! exists. and is found lying IS a double
| chain of nerve knots OF ganglia down the
front of the spine. Now it is evident that
| as the brain is the most important part
! of the nervous apparatus, the spinal cord
and the mpathetic system must together
occupy a secondary position. This is I'm
questionably the case. and the pan on
| which our nervous affairs have been
ordered represents the well-known princi-
pie OF the division of labor"
With a complex body TO look after, our
nervous system exhibits clear specializa-
ton OF its duties. II there are parts in the
brain whose duty II is to think, thsre
are other parts whose function it is to guide
our movements. If there are groups OF
| nerve cells destined for the purpose of re-
ceiving messages from eyes and ea-s, the
intelligence department" of the brain,
there are other groups that supervise the
work OF the heart, and that control our di-
gestive proceedings, and that see 10 IL that
the duties of the lungs are duly discharged
On such a principle of division of labor
We are bound to find the varied ways aud
works of the nervous system carried out
on different levels, as regards the i'm
portance of the duties performed. Now
1t happens that the spinal cord which
runs through the middle of the backbone
within which It Is protected as within a
boDy tube, Is really kind of brain
deputy in many respects. 1t acts On the
whole as the confidential servant OF tho
brain, but it also possesses an independ-
ence of its own. Its duties are of a lower
| nature than those discharged by the brain
but they are none the less essential for tht
perfect ordering OF the body's welfare
Even il the head office be singularly wei
organized, it cannot exercise its functions
, properly in the absence or inefficieD'y o
the sub-offices, and the special cord !!
really a series of sub Offices carrying on
many actions which otherwise we nigh
be tempted 10 credit to the share of tn,
brain.
If we divide the spinal cord of frog anC
irritate the foot the leg will be moved
after the fashion In which the uninjureC
animal would resent being ttckled- Her
We have separated the brain from the feet
and yet control OF the muscles of the leg il
not lost. That which the brain does In th'
frog apparently is not SO much to carr,
out movements, but to initiate and contro
, them. II a frogs legs be allowed to CONF
In contact with some weakly irritating tiui,
the legs naturally will be withdrawn ate
an interval. Time after time the actioi
will go on, till we can gauge fairly tn
period which will elapse between the with
drawals of the legs and their deseents II