DEATH BY LIGHTNING. 401 



self in the presence of the audience and apparatus, and, by 

 the help of these external appearances, immediately con- 

 cluded that I had received the battery discharge. The in- 

 tellectual consciousness of my position was restored with 

 exceeding rapidity, but not so the optical consciousness. 

 To prevent the audience from being alarmed, I observed 

 that it had often been my desire to receive accidentally 

 such a shock, and that my wish had at length been fulfilled. 

 But while making this remark, the appearance which my 

 body presented to myself was that of a number of separate 

 pieces. The arms, for example, were detached from the 

 trunk, and seemed suspended in the air. In fact, memory 

 and the power of reasoning appeared to be complete long 

 before the optic nerve was restored to healthy action. But 

 what I wish chiefly to dwell upon here is, the absolute pain- 

 lessness of the shock ; and there cannot be a doubt that, to 

 a person struck dead by lightning, the passage from life to 

 death occurs without consciousness being in the least de- 

 gree implicated. It is an abrupt stoppage of sensation, 

 unaccompanied by a pang. 

 July 8, 1865. 



