[32]. Walther, de Morbis Peritonai, et Apoplexia. 3 Foderè, p. 106.
[33]. See the Reports of the Edinburgh colleges, in the case of Sir James Standsfield, as printed in the Appendix, p. 225, also Extracts from Medical Evidence in the case of Spencer Cowper, Esq. for the murder of Sarah Stout, ibid. p. 230. 3 Foderè, p. 93. 100. 108. The case of Servin, ib. 125. of Paulet, ib. 126.
[34]. Medicine Légale, vol. iii. p. 85.
[35]. During such a state of the body there would be but a feeble call for oxygen; it is muscular action which so rapidly expends this important principle.
[36]. In an experiment with a drowned cat, Mr. Brodie found less than a drachm of water in the bronchial vessels. Other physiologists have ascertained the same fact by drowning animals in different coloured fluids.
[37]. See a very curious paper upon this subject by Mr. Robertson, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1757, vol. 1. p. 30; from which it appears that the author made ten experiments, in which, with the exception of one person, he found all the men specifically lighter than water, and hence he concludes that drowning might be avoided, if the person who falls into the water were not deprived of his presence of mind.
[38]. Franklin’s Art of Swimming.
[39]. Vide Valent. Pand. Med. Leg. 297. “De reperto sub aqua Cadavere,” and 299 “De Submersorum morte sine pota aquæ.”
[40]. We say, “generally” because the comparative size of bone, on the one hand, or the quantity of fat on the other, will make a very considerable difference in the specific gravity of different parts of the human body.
[41]. See Southey’s Life of Nelson; and the New Monthly Magazine for January, 1821.