376 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



blood goes out red from the glands in activity, it goes out, on the contrary, 

 very black, and with different physical qualities from a muscle which con- 

 tracts itself. 



In experimenting on the submaxillary gland, Prof. Bernard has been able, 

 by means of electricity, to excite at will the activity of an organ, so as to 

 produce the secretion of saliva and the coloring of the blood of the vein 

 red. This fact suggested to him the following remark : " All those modifi- 

 cations which the blood undergoes in consequence of the functional activity 

 of the organs, are always determined by the nervous system ; and conse- 

 quently, at this point of contact between the organic tissues and the blood, 

 we must search for a knowledge of the special agency of the nervous sys- 

 tem in the physico-chemical phenomena of life." 



INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS ON THE BODY OF AN EXECUTED 



CRIMINAL. 



During the past year a man by the name of McGee was executed for mur- 

 der in the city of Boston, and a medical examination subsequently made of 

 his body by Dr. Henry Clarke and other physicians of that city. From the 

 account of this examination, published by Dr. Clarke in the Boston Medical 

 Journal, we derive the following interesting particulars : 



The examination may be said to have commenced before death had com- 

 pletely taken place, for Dr. Clarke's account begins while the frame of the 

 malefactor was still suspended. "At the end of seven minutes (he says) all 

 the sounds of the heart were distinctly audible, and the number of beats one 

 hundred in the minute. At nine minutes the number was ninety -eight. At the 

 end of twelve minutes the number was sixty, and the pulsations fainter. At 

 fourteen minutes the sounds had disappeared. The body was lowered at 

 10.25, at which time a careful examination of the chest revealed no percepti- 

 ble sound or impulse of the heart. A small space under the left ear seemed 

 to have escaped active compression, so that some circulation might have 

 been continued through the carotid and jugular of that side." Half an hour 

 later, or a few minutes past eleven, Dr. Ellis commenced the autopsy. At 

 11.30 a slight but regular pulsatory movement was observed in the right 

 subclavian vein. Upon applying the ear to the chest, this was ascertained 

 to proceed from the heart itself, which gave a distinct and regular single 

 beat, with a slight impulse, eighty times a minute. The chest was then 

 opened, and the heart exposed, without in any way arresting the pulsatory 

 movements. The right auricle was in full and regular motion, contracting 

 and dilating with beautiful distinctiveness and energy. At twelve o'clock, 

 the spinal cord having been previously divided, the number of contractions 

 was forty per minute, having continued, with only a short intermission, up 

 to this time. The peculiar movements of the anterior wall of the right auri- 

 cle gradually, but occasionally, recurred, either spontaneously, or excited by 

 a passing current of air, until 1.45. They could at any moment be excited 

 by the point of the scalpel. At 1.45 the movements still continued without 

 stimulus. Five were noticed in a minute, with corresponding intervals. At 

 2.45 all automatic movements ceased, but the part still responded to the stim- 

 ulus of the knife. At 3.10 deep irritation of the same kind was followed by 

 slight movements. The irritability was most marked at the lower part, 

 where the vena cavse enter the auricle. At 3.18 all movements ceased. On 

 opening the heart, it was found to be perfectly normal. After some other and 



