186 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [August, 



of death, and can only have resulted from a great excess of current above 

 the fatal strength. A dog was killed by passing a smooth, continuous 

 current of 0.4 ampere between the head and thigh, the positive pole or 

 electrode being applied to the head. The current was then maintained 

 of the same strength and direction for one hour and forty minutes longer, 

 interrupted only by nine momentar}' breaks, made for the purpose of 

 testing musctdar contractility. By the end of this time the whole body, 

 was in a fiiirly firm rigor. This had been first noticed at the end of 

 forty-five minutes, beginning in the neck, extending then to the muscles 

 of the back, and appearing in the thigh, to which one electrode had been 

 applied, rather sooner than in the other extremities. Yet, after this pro- 

 longed application of a fatal dose thei'e was no sign of tissue disintegra- 

 tion, or of any liberation of gases in the tissues, or in the blood-vessels ; 

 nor any lesion whatsoever except a light ecchymosis between the skull 

 and scalp, immediately under the electrode. If there is any change at 

 all wrought in the blood, then it is not in the nature of ordinary elec- 

 trolysis ; nor is it of a sufficiently gross character to be readily detected 

 with the microscope ; nor does it evidently alter the physiological char- 

 acter of thejjlood. Until at least the existence of some change is pi^oved 

 it is useless to speculate on its possible nature or consequences. 



Respiration may be suspended or inhibited without the immediate 

 arrest of the heart; and, on the other hand, the heart may be instantly 

 and definitely arrested while the respiratory mechanism yields only 

 gradually. A current of one ampere passed between the head and 

 thigh for one full second, in either direction, or an alternating current 

 of the same virtual strength for one second, has always stopped the 

 heart beat and respiration at once. And, further, the most fatal mode 

 of application has been when one electrode was placed immediately 

 over the heart region. For m three experiments where this plan was 

 tried the heart was stopped by a strength of current and a duration of 

 closure decidedly less than ever sufficed when the current was passed 

 from the head to the thigh. 



Dr. A. D. Rockwell has kindly expressed his opinion on the subject 

 of death from the electric shock : "• In regard to the cause of death by 

 the electric shock, I do not feel competent to say more than that it 

 seems to instantly paralyze the heart through its action on the nerve 

 centres. I have witnessed a number of post niortoiis after accidental 

 death by electricity and in every case there was an absence of even a 

 suggestion of tissue lesion — the heart onlv excepted — and even in this 

 organ the minute eftusions following capillary ruption were due to its 

 sudden and powerful contraction and not the direct action of the cur- 

 rent itself." 



Interesting in this connection is the report of Prof S. H. Gage of 

 Cornell University, upon the results of, examination of the heart of a 

 calf killed by the Kemmler-chair electrodes at Auburn : 



" In examining the calf's heart muscle sent me, I made sections, 

 stained and mounted in balsam ; part of the tissue was isolated with 

 caustic potash, and part simply dissected with needles and mounted in 

 glycerine. In order to have a criterion to guide me the heart of a calf 

 butchered in the ordinar}' wav for food was obtained, and examinations 

 made while it was fresii, ancl then after treatment with alcohol, as de- 

 scril^ed for the heart received from you. 



