Note 115 — I. Does the Heart cease to act immediately in consequence of the interruption of the cerebral action?
F. Gold translation
Galvanic experiments have at different times been made on the bodies of those who have been executed. Vassali, Julio and Rossi made a great number of them at Turin; but the piles that were then used were very weak compared with those that are now employed. In the experiments made at Newgate on the body of a criminal, the limbs were violently agitated, the eyes opened and shut, the mouth and the jaws moved in every direction, and the face was thrown into the most frightful convulsions. The last and most complete experiments, that we know of, were made at Glasgow in November 1818 by Dr. Andrew Ure. He used for these experiments a battery composed of two hundred and seventy pair of plates four inches square, with communicating wires, and so arranged that they could be insulated for the purpose of applying the electricity in a more convenient manner.
The subject, on whom these experiments were made, was of middle height, about thirty years of age and of an athletic constitution. He was on the gallows almost an hour, and he was not convulsed after being hung, whilst a robber executed at the same time was violently agitated for a considerable time. He was carried to the anatomical theatre of the university, about ten minutes after he was removed from the gallows. His face had a perfectly natural appearance being neither livid nor swollen, and the neck was not dislocated.
About five minutes before the arrival of the police officers with the body, the battery was charged with diluted nitro-sulphuric acid, which quickly put it in a state to exert an intense action.
1st Experiment. A large incision was made immediately below the occiput. The posterior half of the first vertebra was then removed and the spinal marrow laid bare, at the same time a considerable incision was made in the great glutæus muscle, in order to expose the sciatic nerve. A slight incision was made in the heel; no blood escaped from any part. A wire which communicated with one extremity of the battery was put in contact with the spinal marrow, whilst the other was applied to the sciatic nerve. All the muscles of the body were in an instant agitated with convulsive motions which resembled a violent shuddering. The strongest convulsions were on the left side; at each time of renewing the electric contact by moving the second wire from the haunch to the heel the knee being previously bent, the leg was thrown out with so much force, that it threw down one of the assistants who in vain endeavoured to prevent the extension.
2d Experiment. The left phrenic nerve was laid bare towards the external edge of the sterno-thyroideus muscle, three or four inches above the clavicle; as this nerve goes to the diaphragm, and as it communicates with the heart by the eighth pair, it was expected, that by throwing the galvanic fluid through it, the action of respiration would be renewed. In consequence a small incision having been made under the cartilage of the seventh rib, the point of an insulated wire was placed in contact with the diaphragm, whilst the other was applied to the phrenic nerve of the neck. This muscle, the principal agent of respiration, contracted immediately, but with less force than was expected. As I knew by numerous experiments that we could produce the most powerful effects from the galvanic fluid, by leaving the extreme communicating wires perfectly in contact with the parts on which we wished to operate, whilst, in order to complete the electric chain, we carried the end of the wires the length of the plates, into the last trough of one of the poles and immediately plunged the other wire into the last cell of the opposite side, I had recourse to this measure without loss of time. The success was truly astonishing; instantly commenced a strong and laborious respiration. The chest rose and fell; the abdomen was pushed forward and then flattened, and the diaphragm contracted and relaxed. All these motions appeared without interruption as long as I continued the electric excitement.
In the opinion of many scientific persons who were witnesses of this scene, this experiment was perhaps the most striking that had ever been made with an electrical apparatus. It should be recollected that during half an hour at least, before this, the body had been nearly exhausted of blood and the spinal marrow had been much lacerated.
No pulsation could be perceived either in the heart or at the wrist.
3d Experiment. The suborbitar nerve was laid bare at its exit from the suborbitar foramen. One of the conducting wires was applied to the nerve and the other to the heel; the most extraordinary grimaces were produced. All the muscles were put simultaneously in action in a frightful manner; rage, horrour, despair, anguish and frightful smiles united their hideous expression in the face of the assassin. At the sight of this, many of the spectators were obliged to leave the room and one of them fainted.
4th Experiment. The last galvanic experiment was made by transmitting the electric fluid from the spinal marrow to the cubital nerve near the elbow; the fingers moved quickly like those of a performer on a violin; one of the assistants who endeavoured to keep the hand shut, found that it opened in spite of his efforts. A wire was applied to a slight incision made at the end of the first finger; the hand had been previously shut; the finger was instantly extended, and, after a convulsive agitation of the arm, the dead man seemed to point his finger at the spectators, some of whom thought that he had come to life.
An hour was consumed in these experiments.