Does it Hurt to Have Your Head Cut Off?

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 336, 23 January 1889, Page 4

Does it Hurt to Have Your Head Cut Off?

A very, interesting volume has just been publishod at Paris (Bureaux dv Progress Medical), in which Dr. Paul Lbye,' 'under the title of -' La Morb par la Decapitation,' studies the question as to whether, after decapitation, l conscience survives for a short time in the severed head, and physi cal suftering is /felt in both parts of the ex ecuted body. M. Loye deals simply and solely with the scientific aspect of the [ matter. The present volume is the result of years of scientific experiments made under the shadow of the guillotine as well I as in the laboratory.

Entering the Kingdom of Terror. Every time a head falls under the sword or under bhe executioner's axe, says Dr. Loye, the imagination of the spectators has, in the physiognomy of the victim, looked for proofs of the survival of will and conscience The eyes turned, which was a sign of pain ; the lips moved, which showed they wanted to speak ; the month opened, in order to bite, in a kind of fury. There is not a movement of the face which has not been interpreted an a mark of the continuation of feeling-. And ever since the guillotine mowed down the thousands of multitudes during the Reign ol Terror, scientists have stood their whole intellect on the one question, ' Does consciousness remain after the victim's head i& severed irom the body ?'

Guillotining Dogs. In order to be able to spenk with authority on this gruesome but important subject, Dr. Loye hns devoted much time to the study of decapitation and its immediate consequence?. Before, however, proceeding- to the study of the human victim of the arm of the law, he experimented on a number of dogs. He says :—: — The instrument which I used for separating the head from the trunk is constructed after a model of the guillotine. It is a triangular steel knife surmounted by a lump of lead weighing about 201b; it fell from a height of about three yards on the animal's neck. . . . The animal's head is put into a circular opening formed of two semi-circular boards between which it is firmly fixed. The knife touches the part just in front of the opening and cuts the head entirely off. ... The instrument did its task in less than half a second. In order to make the knife fall it was only necessary to let go the cord by which it was fastened. Notwithstanding the fact that the dog's neck was covered with a good deal of hair, and that its skin was very thick, the cut was absolutely smooth.

Observations After the Death, of a Dog. At the moment when the head falls the mouth is nearly always partly open, as i the animal were breathing deeply. The tongue is pressed against the roof of the j mouth or trembles slightly ; the eyelid are closed and show slight contractions then the eyes open and roll in their sockets upward, downward, and to either side, the pupil is contracted. At the same time the jaws open, then close quickly, and all the facial muscles move in rapid convulsions. , The labial commissures are violently displaced, the nostrils quiver, the lips tremble, and the ears stand up. All these movements together make a fearful grimace, by which the most intense pain and agony seem to be expressed. This first phase lasts about ten seconds, after which a period of repose, lasting about five seconds, commences. Two minutes after decapitation every part of the head becomes rigid and cadaverous.

" Eyes They Have and See Not ; Ears, and Hear Not." Besides these obsei vations, which were the same on nearly every dog which Dr. Loye decapitated for scientific purposes, he subjected the head to other tests. But no decapitated dog has ever responded by any special movemenis to the restoratives applied to the nervous senses, whether I whistled or shouted into its ears, passed a striking object before its eyes, irritated its tongue, or tried anything else. All perception of external impressions had ceased. Thus it appears that consciousness disappears immediately after decapitation. The question now arises whether consciousness is only suspended, as in a state of syncope, and can be revived if the head be replaced in the same physiological conditions in which ifc was before ib was separated from the body. But thi& is proved to be impossible and thus the conclusion is arrived at that a dog's head, at all events, does not undergo any more suffering affcer once the fatal blow has fallen, and that any movements are merely muscular.

How Beheaded Ostriches Kan a Race. Af fcer the heads, the trunks of decapitated dogs were subjected to a number of experiments, discussing which Dr. Loye points to the example of the ostriches of the Roman Emperor Gommodus, who amused himself by cutting off with sharpened spear-heads the heads of the ostriches running the race round the circus. To everybody's astonishment, the birds continued to run to the end of the course, while their heads lay at the Emperor's feet. But although no dog has been known to perform such a feat, the trunk is by no means motionless immediately after death. "He rose and jumped, like a frightened steed, Then stretched himself and died." In nearly every case the moment after tho knife ha^ fallen the body of the animal executes sevei'al energetic movements with the hind lega and tail.