466 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



the help of these external appearances, immediately con- 

 cluded that I had received the battery discharge. The 

 intellectual 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 ful- 

 filled. But, while making this remark, the appearance 

 which my body presented to my eyes was that of a num- 

 ber of separate pieces. The arms, for example, were de- 

 tached 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 painlessness of the shock; and there 

 cannot, I think, be a doubt that, to a person struck dead 

 by lightning, the passage from life to death occurs without 

 consciousness being in the least degree implicated. It is 

 an abrupt stoppage of sensation, unaccompanied by a pang. 



