290 



NATURE 



[Aug. 3, 1876 



were afterwards expressed as to the power of galvanism 

 to restore suspended life. Aldini, indeed, made a kind 

 of apologetic observation that his " object in applying the 

 treatment to the dead malefactor was not to produce re- 

 animation, but merely to obtain a practical knowledge 

 how far galvanism might be employed as an auxiliary to 

 other means in attempts to revive persons under similar 

 circumstances." The observations of Aldini were as im- 

 piessive as they were remarkable. They opened a new 

 line of inquiry and of research ; but in their very wonder 

 lay a source of many errors, and from these errors sprang 

 a false rule of practice, which was unfortunate in its 

 results for a very long time. 



One error consisted in attributing to the action of galva- 

 nism something more than its power of calling forth the 

 natural remaining irritability of the muscles of those in 

 whom the signs of life are suspended. It was noticed 

 that the muscles of the malefactor retained their irrita- 

 bility and power of contraction under the galvanic 

 stimulus for seven hours and a half after the execution. 

 The credit of this, which was due entirely, as my experi- 

 ments have since explained, to the cold to which the dead 

 body was exposed, was given to the galvanism ; here was 

 a second error. The greatest error was conveyed in an 

 inference drawn, and I think naturally drawn, by Aldini, 

 at that time, that the " application of galvanism gives new 

 energy" to the muscles, and therefore that galvanism 

 ought to have first place in the practice of resuscitation. 

 " The well-known method," he says, " of injecting atmo- 

 spheric air (artificial respiration) ought not to be neglected ; 

 but here, likewise, in order that the lungs may be pre- 

 pared for its reception, it would be proper previously to 

 use galvanism, to excite the muscular action, and to assist 

 the whole animal system to resume its vital functions." 



It was all but impossible that teaching such as this, 

 backed as it was by experiment so remarkable, should 

 fail to exert an influence on the practice of medicine in 

 the treatment of suspended animation. It did, in fact, 

 exert the most potent influence. It threw artificial respi- 

 ration, which had been projected by Hcoke, from experi- 

 ment on animals, and which had been strongly urged by 

 Fothergill and John Hunter, into the shade, and it gave 

 to galvanism for nearly half a century the first place as 

 the means, not simply for calling into motion the remain- 

 ing energy of the dying muscles, but, as Aldini imagined, 

 for " giving new energy " to the muscles. From the date 

 of that theory, the battery, and after it was discovered, 

 the electro-magnetic machine became the instruments of 

 instruments for resuscitation. 



Thirty years ago, when I was commencing my medical 

 career, the application of the galvanic battery in cases 

 of sudden death from drowning, from suffocation, and 

 from other similar forms of sudden accident, was still 

 the approved practice. The mode of operation was to 

 place one pole of the battery at the nape of the neck, and 

 the other pole below the diaphragm, and by passing 

 shocks through the inclosed parts, to excite the muscles to 

 contraction, so as to restore the movements of respira- 

 tion. The effect was for a little time very startling ; it 

 seemed as if the natural function were called again into 

 play ; but in the end the motion excited became feebler 

 and feebler ; at last the stimulus failed, and the patient 

 was declared to be dead. I recall many instances of this 

 kind. I know of one instance of suspended human life from 

 accidental suffocation, in which, when the natural breath- 

 ing was just becoming restored by artificial inflation of 

 the chest, the arrival of a battery and the application of 

 it to expedite recovery was followed by complete cessa- 

 tion of all motion in response to the stimulus, and by 

 absolute death. I know of another instance in which a 

 needle from one pole of the battery was carried down to 

 the heart, under the hope of exciting motion from the 

 centre of the circulation, but, as it was said, " without 

 avail." 



In this position the method of resuscitation by means 

 of galvanism stood until my experiments on animals 

 recently dead from anaesthesia commenced. In experi- 

 menting with the galvanic current I was desirous of 

 making it more precise in action, my original idea 

 being that the constant failure of it as a means 

 of recovery was due, not to fault in principle, but 

 to some mistake of detail. With the research in this 

 direction came the observation, altogether unexpected, 

 that galvanism, even when it is made to reproduce the 

 natural movements of respiration with such precision that 

 they tally completely with the natural respiratory acts of 

 the animal as those were counted and measured while the 

 animal was in health, not only fails to restore the natural 

 respiration in the majority of cases, but in the majority 

 of cases destroys the respiratory power altogether. In 

 brief, the experiments showed that the theory of Aldini, 

 that galvanism " gives new energy " to the muscles was 

 wrong, while the fact came out that the effect of the gal- 

 vanism is only to whip into silence the muscles that are 

 already well-nigh dead. This, which was found true in 

 respect to the muscles concerned in respiration, was 

 found to be equally true in respect to the heart. 



The correction in matter of principle deduced, the 

 comparison followed between artificial respiration carried 

 out with a perfect instrument and the effect of galvanism, 

 in the same forms and modes of death. Therewith fol- 

 lowed the result that in extreme states where recovery is 

 nevertheless all but certain by the process of artificial 

 respiration supplied from the hand of the operator, death 

 is all but certain from the application of the galvanic 

 stimulus. The lesson taught by experiment was thus 

 doubly valuable ; it exposed the failure of a deceptive 

 and fatal agency for means of restoration ; it prompted 

 the improvement of rational and successful mfans of 

 restoration. 



As the experiment with galvanism on the failing 

 muscles of the lower animal opened my eyes to read the 

 real facts, thj reason came vividly enough before me, 

 why in the human subject I had seen, with pain beyond 

 measure or expression, the vigorously stirred muscular 

 mechanisms sink under galvanic stimulation into irre- 

 vocable rest. Then I could point out and correct the 

 error. In the absence of the experiment, the correc- 

 tion had been impossible. No man on a mere specu- 

 lation would have dared to withhold from a dying 

 patient the application of galvanic stimulation, until 

 the danger of the practice was proved by experi- 

 mental science. Yet how solemn is the issue let one 

 example tell ! Before the experiments I have related 

 Avere performed and the new order cf facts were elicited 

 by them, I should — in the case of that child, whose his- 

 tory was told in my last communication, and who recovered 

 by means of artificial respiration when the natural respira- 

 tion had ceased and all the signs of death were developed 

 — have tried, from the practice I then knew, to excite the 

 respiratory power by galvanism, and should have be- 

 lieved, whatever had been the result, that the practice 

 was, under the circumstances, the best that could have 

 been employed. Now I know that the galvanic current 

 would have killed the child outright, as surely as I know 

 that the artificial respiration raised him back into life. 



Aldini reports that after the observations on the male- 

 factor, Forster, were concluded, Mr. Keate, the Master of 

 the College of Surgeons, proposed to make comparative 

 experiments on animals. If this had been done at that 

 time and the relative merits of artificial respiration sup- 

 plied by the power of the operator, and of artificial respira- 

 tion excited by galvanism from the muscles of the affected 

 subject had been compared, the original error of Aldini 

 that the galvanic current "gives new enei'gy " would at 

 once have been detected, and it would have been seen 

 that the current does no more than disperse the flickering 

 power which the dying muscles retain. As far as I 



