The most Extraordinary and Startling Discovery as yet known to the World made in Sydney.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 653, 18 March 1879, Page 2

The most Extraordinary and Startling Discovery as yet known to the World made m Sydney.

We {Brisbane Courier)' gladly give publicity to a discovery that promises'tb revolutionise all previous theories of meat exportation. If the narrator of "the following extraordinary; fact is not too sanguine as to the success of the marvellous experiments he informs us he. -haswitnessed, the squatter who to-day is puzzling over the future prospect for his surplus stock has opportunities before him that may be termed golden. We \enture no opinion on the following process, an account of which we give m the writer's own words : — ■' '

I Many of your readers who know Sydney Harbour will remember the long unlet opposite the heads known, as Middle ■ Harbour j which, m a succession of landlocked reaches, stretches away like a chain of lakes for over 20 miles, Onone of these reaches stand on about an acre of grassy flat, fringed by white beach on which the clear .watera of the harbour lap, two low brick buildings. Here m perfect seclusion and with a careful avoidance of publicity is being conducted an experiment, the success of which, now established beyond any doubt, must have a wider effect on the future prosperity of Australia and New Zealand than any project ever contemplated. The gentlemen engaged m this enterprise are Signor Rotura, whose researches into the botany and natural history of South America have rendered his name eminent, and Mr. James. Grant, a pupil of the late Mr* Nicolle, so long associated with Mr. Thomas Mort m his freezing process; It appears that five months ago Signor Rotura called Upon Mr. Grant to evoke his assistance m a. scheme/for the transmission of live stock to Europe. Signor Rotura. averred that he had discovered a South American vegetable poison, allied to the well-known woerara, that -had the power 1 of perfectly ' suspending ariihiatiojrt, , and that trance thud produced continued till the application of another vegetable' essence oau > stef the' 'bldbxUf o resume its circulation and the heart its functions. Sb'p'erfeetj' moreover, was this suspension of life, that Signor Rotura had fdtfnd m a warm climate d ecomposition set in ' at the extremities after a week of. this living death, and he imagined Iff the' body while m this inert a,tate were reduced to a temperature 'sufficiently low to arrest decomposition, the trance might be kept up ; for months, possibly for years. Before .he lef t Mr. Graiit, he had turned that gentleman's doubts into wondering curiosity by experimenting bn ' his ; dogi, He injected two drops of his ' Kduid mixed with & little glycerine m a small puncture made m the dog's ear, and m. three- or four minutes the animal was perfectly rigid, the . fqur legs stretched backwards, eyes wide open, pupjhv. very much dilated, and .exhibiting Bymptbms very similar 'to "ttfcfab of -death by strychnine, except thai* thdre had- been, no previous struggle W. pjtiMf.' ? Bagging hia owner to have no apprehensions for the life of 'his favourite animal, Signor Rotura- lifted the i dog; carefully^ and placed him m a cupboard, where he begged he might be left till the following day, 'when he promised to call at 10 o'clock and revive the apparently dead brute. Mr. Grant continually, during that day and night, visited the cupboard, and so perfectly was life suspended m his favourite— no motion of the pulse or heart giving any indication of; the possibility; of. revival,^ the frame being perfectly rigid— that he confessed he felt all the sharpest reproaches of remorse at having sacrificed ; a faithful friend to a ; doubtful and. dangerous experiment. The temperature of the body, too, m. the ' first four hours gradually lowered to 25 degrees Fahrenheit below . ordinary blood temperature,, which increased his fears as to the. result, and by morning the body was as cold as m actual death.. At 10 o'clock next morning, according to promise, Signor Rotura presented himself, and laughing at Mr. grant's fears, requested a tub of warm water to be brought. He tested this with the thermometer at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and m this laid the dog liead xbuder. To Mr Grant's objections Si»nor Rotura assured him .'that, : as animation must remain entirely suspended till the administration of the antidote, no water could" be- drawn into the lungs, and that the immersion of the body, was simply to bring it again to a blood heat. After about 10, minutes of this bath the body was taken out arid another liquid injected m the puncture made m the neck. Mr. Grant tells me the revival of '* Turk" was the most startling thing he ever witnessed J 'and having seen the experiment; made upon a sheep I can fully confirm his statement.. The dog first, showed the return of life m the eye I ,' and after five and khalf minutes he drew at first a long breath, and the rigidity left his limbs. In a few minutes more he commenced gently wagging his tail, arid then slowly got up, stretched himself, and trotted off as though nothing had happened. From that moment, Mr. Grant became aware of the extraordinary issues opened by his visitor's discovery, and promised him all the assistance m his power. In the meantime Dr. Barker had been taken into their counsels, and at his suggestion respiration was encouraged, as m, the case of persons drowned, by artificial compression and expansion of the lungs. Dr. Carker was of opinion that, as the heart m every case commenced to beat, it was a want of vital force to set the lunga m proper motion that caused death. The result showed his surmises to be entirely correct.-<~A number of animals, whose life has been sealed up m this artificial death, have been kept m the freezingchamber from brie to five weeks,. and it is found that, 'though the shock to the system from this freezing is very great, it ia not increased by duration of 'time. Messrs Grant and Rotura then determined upon the; ereotion of. the works just finished at. Middle Harbour, an enterprising capitalist, Mr. Christopher Newton, of Pitt street, finding the necessary funds. On Saturday last I was invited to go down with a member of the staff of the Sydney Mornihg Herald to see what had been effected. Arrived at the works m Middle Harbour, I was taken into the building that contains Mr Grant's apparatus for generating cold. Attached to this is the freezing-chamber, : a small dark room about 8 feet by 10

feet. Here were 14 sheep, four lambs, and three piga, stacked on their sides m a heap, alive, which Mr. Grant told me had been m their present position for U9 day,s, a,nd were to remain tlitire fi|r another three months. Selecting one of the lambs, Signor Rotura put it on his shoulder and carried it outside into the other building, where a number of shallow ccmente!d\tanks m the floor, having hot and cold water taps to each tank, and a thermometer hanging along-, side. One of these tanks was quickly filled, and its temperature tested by the signor, I meanwhile examining with the greatest curiosity and wonder the"irineteen daya dead lamb. The days of miracles truly seem to have. come back to us, and many of those stories discarded as absurdities seem to me less improbable than this fact, witnessed by mj'self.: 'There was the lamb, tb all appearance dead, and as hard almost as a stone, the only difference perceptible to .me between his condition and actual ,' death being the absence of dull glassiness '; about ..the eye, which still retained its brilliant transparency. The lamb' wais; gently dropped into th» warm bath, and! , was allowed to remain m it about 23 minutes, its head being raised above water twice for the introduction of the thermometer into its mouth, t,nd then it was taken -out and placed on ita side on the floor, Signor Rotura quickly diViddd the :Woql; on the; neck and inserting the sharp point of a small silver,. Syringe under the skin and injecting the antidote; This was a pale-green liquid, and, as I believe, a decoction from the' roofciJf the Astracharlis, found m South^ America, The lamb was then turned on its back, Signor Rotura standing across it, gently compressing its ribs with his knees and hands, m such a manner as to imitate their natural depression and expansion during breathing/* In ten minutes the animal was'struggling to free itself, and when released slapped out through the door, and went gambolling and bleating over the little green m front. Nothing ' ( has ever impressed me so entirely with a sense of ( the, marvellous. One is almost tempted to ask, m the presence *of tiuch a discovery, whether death itself may ultimately be .baffled by scientific investigation; y '!■(..•.• //.,.-. i You will seel at once the" benefits claimed by the discoverers of this process. Oargoes of live sheep can thus be sent to England by iarge steamers, and although a freezing atmosphere will still* be an essential, a temporary breakdown/ ' necessitating a stoppage of eight or fen ' days m the production oorf r cold, would be of no conseqiience, When the, sheep, are landed m England, any that fail to entirely rally mil be perfectly good meat, whereas ,the others can be. turned on to pastures or driven to market Of course the same results can be achieved with bullocks, but their greater weight makes them more - difficult to handle with safety, and the carcase is rendered brittle by freezing, making them ,more liable to injury. It sounded odd tohe)ar| Mr. Grant and Signor Rotura laying stress upon the danger of breakage on the voyage. Rotura tells me that; though herdms rtevwr at tempted his experiment on a human being, he has no doubt at all as to its perfect safety. The next felon under capital sentence he has requested Sir. Henry Parkes to be allowed to operate on. He purposes placing him m the freezing-chamber for one month;' and declares that he has no fear of a fatal result. As to whether this temporary suspension would affect the longevity of the subject, he can give no positive information^ but, believes " its duration might be prolonged for years. Iwak anxious to know if a period of say five years of this inertness were submitted to, whether it .would be so much cut out of one's life, or if it wonlo! be simply five years of unconscious existence tacked oh to one's sentient life, i Signor Rotura i could give no positive answer, but believes, as no change takes place, or can take place, while m this frozen trance 1 — • no consumption, destruction, or reparation of tissue being possible— it would be so many unvalued and profitless years added to a lifetime.