GALVANISING A CORPSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8306, 12 July 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

GALVANISING A CORPSE.

A DOCTOR DRIVEN MAD WITH FRIGHT. Among Hie most brilliant; of the students at Dublin University some years ago was Walter Tiernay. To a general adaptability to the science of medicine ho added a coolness an.l nervo in the use of the knife in surgical operations that made him the pride of the faculty and the envy of his fellowstudents. In course of time Tiernay graduated, receiving his diploma, and in a competitive examination which followed won an appointment as assistant surgeon at one of the smaller Dublin hospitals. He filled this position with much success, his one fault being an insatiable thirst for scientific investigation, which led to a proneness to operate upon a patient upon the slightest provocation. This, however, is, as a rule, not regarded as a very serious fault among the doctors of a hospital stall', and Tiernay exposed himself to no very severe criticism in following out, as he invariably did, the maxim of a certain famous medical lecturer, " When in doubt, always operate." One evening, some months after Tiernay had been assigned to his post at the hospital, a number of friends—his former fellow-stu-dents at the university—were gathered in his room. They were chiefly occupied in sipping lemon punch and chaffing Tiernay to their hcarts'content. And what do you think was the subject of their chat!'? Just tlii:-!—the death of a woman under the knife, with Tiernay as the surgical operator! A woman in an advanced suite of pregnancy had been admitted to the hospital. There were certain various complications in her case which rendered it a most interesting one from a medical standpoint. When the hour of her confinement came it was evident that she could not survive, and—well, to pur, it, bluntly—it was charged that, in the interest of certain specific data, Ticrnay had performed a species of autopsy while the patient was still alive. The assembled company listened with great interest to the medical points gleaned from this investigation, and then, their thirst for scientific lore once satisfied, the dialling had begun. Tired at last of dialling Tiernay, the guests turned their conversation to the subject of nervo power. Out of this conversation crew a curious challenge. One of tin) party offered to wager Tiernay a supper at the Garter that he would not dare go into the morgue in the basement of tho hospital, where the body of the poor " victim" lay, and sit for one hour beside the corpse. Just as the clock struck twelve he was to rise, stand over the corpse, and repeat solemnly, three times in succession, " I command you to arise." Tiernay fit first ridiculed lie proposition, but the challenger persisting, he finally accepted the wager, lie repaired to the morgue, took his scat beside the corpse, which lay covered by a sheet, and in the dim light began reading a newspaper. At last the sound of a big hospital clock was heard tolling out the midnight hour. Tiernay rose from his chair, and, true to tin; condition.* of his wager, -;.mi i over the corpse. " I command you to arise." What was that? Really he could have sworn that the body had moved. Nonsense. Was he a man of science, or an old woman with weak nerves ; Once more his voice rang out louder than before. " 1 coin mand you to arise.' Horror upon horror. There could lie no doubt of it this time. Tlio corpse had plainly stirred. With blanched face he tore back the sheet. No, no—it could noi have been. " 1 command you to arise." As. the words rang through the narrow apartment the corpse sprang holt upright, the eyes distended, the long black hair falling in matted streams about the ghostly face. With a convulsive movement the arms shot out as if to encircle him who had summoned "the victim" back fci life. Two minutes later, when Tiernay's friends burst into the room, they found him babbling and chuckling at the feet of the corpse. His reason was gone; he was an idiot, ! Had the poor "victim' claimed her revenge ? Had she been momentarily gifted with the power t> confront her scientific murderer ? No; there was no such sensational retribution as this ! After all, lam obliged to spoil my ghost story, as all ghost stories must be spoiled if yon search deeply enough until you get at the truth. Tiernay was simply the victim of a practical joke, terrible in its results. His guests had contrived to connect a galvanic battery with the corpse, and had thus at the critical moment galvanised it, into life. Owing to seven study Tiernay's nerves were unstrung, an i the awful results described followed.