DEAD MEN RESUSCITATED.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 27, 1 February 1881, Page 4

DEAD MEN RESUSCITATED.

"Do (he medical men ever resuscitate people who are apparently dead ?" The question was -asked by a reporter for the Star of Dr John C. Bennett at the Bellevne Hospital Medical College one day lest week. " Yee, sir ; sucb Instances have token place, but they are exceedingly rare," was the reply. *" Will you tell me whether anything of this kind has bepn done in this college ?" *•' Yes ; I will give you til the information in my power. I do not Buppose a "-ingle really dead person wss ever made fo live, but when there is the smallest vital epaik remaining it can sometimes be fanned into a fl ■me." "Please relate a few instances," "About five years bro I wbb celled io oJtend a tick men in Astoria. When I reached his bedsUe he was aiakiutvery rapidly, ond had become so weak that there was scarcely a perceptible flutter of his heart, aod his respiration was so faint thai it just moved lhe down of a feather, and that was all. Well, tbe man to nil appearances died. The undertaker was noiified to come and lay him out, and I started for my lodging in New York. I had not walked twenty rods from (he man's house when a little boy ceraa running after oae vnth a oif ßß**ge that the undertaker wanted me to return forlhwiib. I made all hasie back, and tho undeitoker met me at the door, exclaiming, 'Do you want me fo prepare a living man for the grave ?' I asked wbat he meant, and ho told me that (he supposed corpse was warm, and that in his opinion the mon was uot dead, I was inclined to believe that the unde'toktr had lost bis senses j but I immediiuely examined my late patieut. Sure enough the body was slightly warm.'' " What couree did you pursue ?" "* 1 sent for Dr William Haleey, who at that time resided in Astoria, and wbb the owner of a small but powerful electric battery. He came, bringing hia battery with him. We applied the electricity to the corpse. It was ip the winter time/and there was a hot fire in the parlor stove in tbe house. Wh called for some woollen blanket?, which were brought, and, after heating tbem upon the stove, we wrapped them about the patiejt. We also chafed the patient's hands and feet. After a few minuta we held a mirror before the supposed dead man's face, when, to our great eorpriee and joy, there appeared upon its surface a dewy moisture, which was caused by tbe slight respiration from the patient. Well, sir, to make a long story short, I will tell you that we worked all of that day and night, Bnd the next morning the undertaker was informed that there would be do funeral, and consequently no need of his services." "Did the patient enjoy good health afterwards ?" "Not very good health. He was weakly for about a year, when he died, and this time he was so very dead tbat we thought it would be a hopeless task to attempt to resuscitate him a second time." " Now, doctor, as you have given'a history of a case where a man was supposed to have died a natural death and waß made to live again, will you tell me about criminals who have been hanged and then restored to life ?" " I have read of such cases, but never had one come under my own personal knowledge." " Did the professors or students of the Bellevne Hospital Medical College ever bring a hanged murderer to life ? " " Not within tbe last twenty-five years, afc least. I have heard one of the old professors say that tbe body of a man named Jackson, who was hanged at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1830, was brought to New York and given to the medical students for experimenting upon. The body was put into a box and taken to a room over a stable on Second Avenue, where ifc was subjected to all the methods known to medical science for infusing life into a supposed corpse." "Was the man brought to life?" " Well, yes and no." "How •was that ? " "I will explain : When the electricity was applied, ifc caused the muscles of the subject to contract, and his limbs moved. The doctors tried artificial respiration, such os ie brought into use for personß who are nearly drowned. They had an idea that they made him gasp two or three times, but if they did actually bring the man to life at all, he died right away. I believe that the skeleton of the murderer now occupies a glass case in the Anatomical Museum connected with the Albany Medical College." Dr. Bennett invited the reporter for the Star to go with him to the Gilsey House, where several of his medical friends were to take dinner. The gentlemen composing the party were waiting in one of the parlors of the hotel. Dr. Bennett told the party that the reporter was in quest of information about dead people being brought to life. One ot the gentlemen, who was introduced as Dr. H. D. Sarle, said, " I can tell you how an undertaker of my acquaintance was once frightened out of his five senses when he thought he had brought a corpse to life. The undertaker waß called upon to prepare the body of an old gentleman who had died for burial. The poor old gentleman, who had suffered terribly from rheumatism, was bent in the form of a letter N. Of course, it would be impossible to put the body in a coffin unless it could be straightened. So the undertaker placed the corpse •upon a board and tied a bandage about the knees of the corpse so as to draw them down to the board. When the bandage was tied the effect was somewhat startling. The old gentleman, who was supposed to be as dead as a door nail, actually sat up and looked the undertaker right in the face." 44 Was that a case of resuscitation from death ?" " Not exactly, but the undertaker would not have been more frightened had the corpse actually come to life." Dr. Bennett said that he had read in a medical work about a man in Lancashire, England, who was kicked on the head by a horse, and, as the doctors thought, instantly killed. The supposed dead body was carried into a bouse, and laid out upon a board in a room in which there was no fire. The •weather was Tery cold. Several young men and women, who volunteered to act as watchers of the dead during the night, occupied an adjoining room to that in which the supposed corpse had been placed. It was their duty to see

that a wet cloth, placed on the face of the man, was changed once each hour, nnd kept well saturated with a solution of saltpetre. Nothing unusual took place until along toward morning, when one of the young women, who had entered the apartment where the body was placed to change the cloth, was heard to scream. Her associates ran in to see what was the matter. She was as pale as a ghost and terribly frightened. "What is the matter?" inquired one of the gentleman. " The dead man has come to life," exclaimed she, pointing to the supposed corpse. Sure enough, the man who was thought to be dead was alive. His limbs were all of a tremble. Doctors were at once sent for. Tho patient was removed to a warm room and subjected to a proper medical and surgical treatment. Within a fortnight he was able to leave his bed. " How do you account for the supposed dead coming to life ?" inquired the reporter of Dr. Bennett. *•'* Well, in the first place, the man was not really dead," was the reply. "He was in a comatose condition. The blow upon his head from the horse's loot had deadened all action of his brain and nerves. The fact that he was placed in a cold room undoubtedly saved his life. The freezing atmosphere, in his case, had a revivifying effect. His brnin recovered from its numbness, aud he received a new lease of life." Another case of resuscitation that attracted considerable attention from the medical fraternity was that of a sailor in the United states Navy, who fell overboard, and, singularly enough for a seafaring man, was unable to swim, and was, to all appearances, drowned. He was fished out of of the water, and his comrades, believing that he was a corpse, wrapped him up in a blanket preparatory to the last rites for the dead at sea. The surgeon of the vessel had an electrical battery on board, and with it he gave the supposed dead man several such severe shocks that the " corpse" came to life, and the chaplain was saved the trouble of reading the funeral service. — Ncvj York Stat. I