THE PHYSIOLOGY OF I) HATH. 281 



bathing, in the Ganges, by the ladies of Calcutta, seize one of them 

 by the legs, drown her, and rob her of her rings. It was supposed 

 that a crocodile carried her off. One of his intended victims succeed- 

 ing in escaping, the assassin was seized and executed in 1817. He 

 confessed that he had practised the homble business for seven years. 

 Another instance is that of a spy, who, seeing preparations making for 

 his execution, endeavored to escape it by feigning death. He held his 

 breath, and suspended all voluntary motions for twelve hours, and en- 

 dured all the tests applied to him to put the reality of his death be- 

 yond doubt. Anaesthetics, too, like chloroform and ether, sometimes 

 produce stronger effects than the surgeons using them desire, and 

 occasion a state of seeming death instead of temporary insensibility. 



It is easy to recall persons to life who are in a state of seeming 

 death ; it is only needful to stimulate powerfully the two mechanical 

 systems that are more or less completely suspended in action, namely 

 those of respiration and circulation. Such movements are communi- 

 cated to the frame of the chest, that the lungs are alternately com- 

 pressed and dilated. A sort of shampooing is applied over the whole 

 body, which restores the capillary circulation ; chemical stimulants, 

 such as ammonia or acetic acid, are brought under the patient's nos- 

 trils. This is the mode of treatmeut for drowned persons, whose con- 

 dition is brought on by ceasing to breathe the air, not by taking in too 

 much water. A very effective method in cases of apparent death, 

 caused by inhaling a poisonous gas, such as carbonic acid or sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen, consists in making the patient draw in large quanti- 

 ties of pure oxygen. And, again, it has very lately been proposed, as 

 Halle suggested without success early in this century, to adopt the use 

 of strong electric currents for stimulating movement in persons who 

 are in a state of syncope. 



In all the cases of seeming death we have just mentioned, one mark 

 of vitality persistently remains, that is, pulsation of the heart. Its 

 throbs are less strong and frequent, but they continue perceptible on 

 auscultation. They are regularly discernible in the deepest fainting- 

 fits, in the various kinds of asphyxia, in poisonings by the most vio- 

 lent narcotics, in hysteria, in the torpor of epilepsy, in short, in 

 the most diverse and protracted states of lethargy and seeming 

 death. 



Yet, this result, now a practical certainty, was unknown to physi- 

 cians of old, and it cannot be denied that, in former times, seeming 

 death was quite often mistaken for true death. The annals of science 

 have recorded a certain number of errors of this kind, many of which 

 have resulted in the interment of unfortunate wretches who were not 

 dead. And for one of these mistakes that chance has brought to light 

 either too late, or in time for the rescue, even then, of the victim, how 

 many are there, pai-ticularly in times of ignorance and carelessness, 

 that no one has ever known ! How many live men have only given 



