A GHOSTLY EXPERIMENT. Consciousness and Decapitation.

Te Aroha News, 26 November 1887, Page 7

A GHOSTLY EXPERIMENT. Consciousness and Decapitation.

Does life in one or other of its functional manifestations immediately cease after decapitation, or is it prolonged for ever so short a time, reckoned by seconds ? Is the brain capable of preserving some of its faculties for a short period after the head had been separated by violence ? Hundreds of experiments have been made to find the solution of this problem by different savant* but not one was conclusive, nor even significant. The learned Professor Velpeau, however (as related by M. de Villers in his new work, "Amour Supreme "), would seem to have obtained certain results a propos of the execution of a Dr. La Pommerais for having poisoned Madame de Pauw. Ac the time the trial excited the greatest interest in the capital ; it was one of the causes cetebres which are consigned to the pages of history. The eminent professor vrcnfc to see La Pommerais in prison a few days before his execution, and addressed him as follows: — "I do not know if your appeal for a repiieve will be favourably received ; but if 1 ejected I have a proposition to make to you as a confrere, and in the interest of tho profession to which we both belong. You are aware that one of the most interesting questions of human physiology is to know if the slightest shade of sensation persists in the brain after decapitation. It depends on you to enlighten humanity on the subject. In the name of science listen to me. At the moment the knife falls I will be standing opposite you, and your head will be put into my hands by the executioner, and T say distinctly at your ear ' M. de la Pommerais, can you close three times successively the lid of the right eye, keeping the left widely open ?' If you can by this sign prove that you have heard me you will have cleaicd up an important scientific question, and you will leave behind you the .souvenir, not of a criminal, but of a hero." La Pommerais asked a few days' reflection before answering this coldblooded proposition. However, on the morning of the execution he informed Velpeau that he was ready. The head fell, and immediately the illustrious surgeon had it in his hands, and pronounced the words agreed upon. To his great astonishment the right eyelid closed, while the left remained widely open. A visible effort was made to raise it again, but it remained closed, and the face became cold and motionless. — " Medical Press. "