Sunbury American And Shamokin Journal

From the Brighton (England) Herald.

Life Restored by Galvanism.

Galvanism was resorted to as a means of restoring the unfortunate Scott, the diver, and though unsuccessful in that particular instance, the vital spark having fled, its application in cases of suspended animation, particularly from drowning, possesses strong claims to the attention of medical men. The following are a series of very interesting experiments made by a gentleman, named Halse, to test the power of Galvanism in cases of suspended animation from drowning.

"On Thursday last one of my spaniels whelped, having a litter of thirteen, six of which I took for my experiments. I drowned three of them in cold water, and kept them immersed for fifteen minutes, at which time I took them from the bucket, and placed them in front of a good fire. No motion could be perceived in either of them. I then put the front legs of one of them in a jar containing a warm solution of salt and water, and its hind legs in a similar jar, in each of which was inserted one pole of the galvanic battery; the whole were then placed near the fire.

The position of the dog being now favorable for operating on, without the necessity of making any incisions in the flesh, I passed a very strong shock through its body: It moved its hind legs. I gave it another shock, which caused its tail also to move. I now passed twenty shocks in quick succession through its body : it moved every limb, its mouth opened, and I was inclined to believe that the dog had actually come to life ; but the moment I ceased passing the shocks the dog was as motionless as it was previous to my commencement. Again I continued the shocks. and I noticed that there was more motion in the limbs. Considering that, in proportion to the return of the sensibility. these shocks would be too powerful for it, I decreased the intensity of them, and passed many hundreds in rapid succession. I continued this for about five minutes, the motion of the limbs increasing as the shocks increased in number. I now ceased; the dog still moved; It was restored to life. I placed it on a warm flannel in front of the fire, and in a very short time it appeared as well as it was previous to its being drowned : it crawled on the flannel, and made the noise peculiar to young dogs.

I now examined the two other dogs which were drowned and taken from the water at the same time this one was. They were both dead-a plain proof that it was entirely owing to the galvanic fluid that life was restored." The other three dogs I drowned in warm water, and kept them immersed for forty minutes, at which time all motion had ceased. Two of them I had in front of the fire, and the remaining one I placed in the jars, as in the preceding experiment. I now passed a shock of weak intensity through the body, but no motion was perceptible. I therefore increased the intensity of them considerably, and gave the shocks in quick succession. Every limb moved, the belly protruded and again collapsed, and the head was raised. At this period I stopped passing the shocks, in order to see if there was any motion in the dog, when not under the galvanic influence--there was none. I again proceeded with the shocks, and having noticed that the limbs moved more rapidly than before, I considered it necessary to decrease the intensity and increase the quantity of electric fluid, which I did, so much as to perceive a slight tremor in the dog. I continued in this manner for about five minutes, at which time I removed it from the jars, and placed it on the table. It was ALIVE. In a quarter of an hour it appeared to be perfectly recovered. The other dogs (which were not allowed to get cold during the whole of the experiment) were examined; no motion whatever could be perceived. I tried the effect of galvanism on one of these. I was successful. In one hour after this I operated on the other dog also, but it was in vain. There was no vigor remaining in the vital powers; life had fled."