1890.] MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 1T9 



stitution, another series of experiments was made by Dr. Cyrus Edson 

 and Dr. Chas. F. Roberts, of the New York Board of Health ; the re- 

 sults of these observations, made to determine the danger of the alternat- 

 ing current, were as follows : A dog weighing 6i pounds in good con- 

 dition, resistance from left front leg to right hind leg 14,000 ohms ; (272) 

 two hundred and seventy-two volts with 2S8 alternations per second 

 killed the animal ; heart ceased beating in 90 seconds. Dog imme- 

 diately dissected by Doctors Robert and Peterson. Sections of sciatic 

 and pneumogastric nerves, muscular fibres of lungs and diaphragm ex- 

 amined microscopically ; no change in the structure observed. 



As the heaviest of several dogs killed w^eighed but 91 pounds, it was 

 claimed that the experiments could not be regarded as a criterion for 

 the effect of the current upon a human being, and a further series of 

 experiments were conducted by Harold P. Brown, at the Edison lab- 

 oratory. A strong and vigorous horse weighing 1,230 pounds, and two 

 calves weighing respectively 124^ and 145 pounds, were killed by the 

 alternating current at 700? 77^' '^^^ 75^ volts. In all of these instances 

 death is said to have been instantaneous and painless. A report of a 

 committee of the Medico-Legal Society recommended that the alternat- 

 ing current be used for the execution of criminals. The details that 

 are interesting in this report are as follows : Regarding the application 

 of the death current to man, it is stated that the average resistance of 

 the human body is 2,500 ohms. In the application of the current for 

 executions, the recumbent or sitting position was suggested. It was rec- 

 ommended that one electrode might be placed in contact with the head, 

 and one electrode upon the spine between the shoulders, or, as I had 

 previously reported in the conclusion of my first experiments, the cur- 

 rent should be made to pass through the functional centres of the brain. 



A dynamo generating the electro-motive force of at least 3,000 volts 

 should be employed ; and a current used with a potential between 

 1,000 and 1,500 volts, according to the resistance of the criminal. In 

 one of their experiments, upon the suggestion that the current should 

 be applied through wristlet electrodes, upon, I presume, the theory that 

 death would be as instantaneous as when applied to the brain centres 

 and so as to include the heart, they applied the current to the four 

 legs of a horse, but found that the method w^as not nearly as effective 

 as when applied to the head and back. These experiments are recorded 

 in the appendix to the testimony (Kemmler enquiry) before the Court 

 of Appeals, State of New York. 



The next series of experiments became of intense practical interest, 

 as the dynamo used was that provided by the State of New York for 

 the execution of criminals at Auburn Prison, and with which it was 

 thought the first electro-execution would be produced. As I took a 

 prominent part in this and a subsequent experiment at the same place, 

 I will naturally be able to give a more detailed account than those 

 with which I vs^as unacquainted. The commission appointed to ex- 

 amine the apparatus preparatory to final purchase by the State, con- 

 sisted of Carlos F. Macdonald, M. D., A. D. Rockwell, M. D., and 

 Louis H. Landy, Ph. D. In addition. Gen. Austin Lathrop, Superin- 

 tendent of State prisons, Harold P. Brown, who furnished the appa- 

 ratus, Mr. Chas. F. Durston, warden of Auburn Prison, and myself, 

 were also present. 



