“2d Experiment. On the 26th of April, the right guttural ganglion, with a portion of the nerve, was removed from a sound horse, four and a half years old, strong and in good condition. The ganglion of the left side was first a little mutilated, and the nerve was removed posteriorly to the extent of thirty three centimetres. The animal did not manifest so much pain as might have been expected.
“The conjunctiva soon became red and the eyelids partly covered the eyes; the respiration became painful and loud; the pulse was hard, strong and frequent. The animal refused all food, and drank with great difficulty.
“This state continued till the 10th of May following. The two wounds were almost healed; the animal eat and drank well; but the hind legs and scrotum were still so much swollen as to interfere with his walking; the conjunctiva remained red and the pupil contracted.
“Towards the 13th of May the skin became adherent and covered with scurf; the cutaneous respiration was nearly destroyed.
“On the 25th of May, the swelling of the legs and the scrotum became considerable, notwithstanding the frictions with water and turpentine, which were made several times a day since the 13th; he could, with difficulty be got out of the stable to be examined. The pulse retained its hardness and frequency. The dung was hard, black and small.
“During the month of June the phenomena were similar to those we have enumerated; the swelling of the scrotum and the legs resisted the tonic and stimulating applications.
“On examining the body, the ends of the nerves that had been drawn out were found swollen as in the first horse. Similar results have been obtained in all the other experiments that have been made on this subject. It may be said in conclusion, that the phenomena which appear after the removal of this ganglion, and which do not depend on the operation, are the contraction of the pupil, the redness of the conjunctiva, general emaciation, accompanied with swelling of the legs, and a scurfy eruption which ultimately affects the whole cutaneous surface.”
[115] Galvanic experiments have at different times been made on the bodies of those who have been executed. Vassali, Julio and Rossi made a great number of them at Turin; but the piles that were then used were very weak compared with those that are now employed. In the experiments made at Newgate on the body of a criminal, the limbs were violently agitated, the eyes opened and shut, the mouth and the jaws moved in every direction, and the face was thrown into the most frightful convulsions. The last and most complete experiments, that we know of, were made at Glasgow in November 1818 by Dr. Andrew Ure. He used for these experiments a battery composed of two hundred and seventy pair of plates four inches square, with communicating wires, and so arranged that they could be insulated for the purpose of applying the electricity in a more convenient manner.
The subject, on whom these experiments were made, was of middle height, about thirty years of age and of an athletic constitution. He was on the gallows almost an hour, and he was not convulsed after being hung, whilst a robber executed at the same time was violently agitated for a considerable time. He was carried to the anatomical theatre of the university, about ten minutes after he was removed from the gallows. His face had a perfectly natural appearance being neither livid nor swollen, and the neck was not dislocated.
About five minutes before the arrival of the police officers with the body, the battery was charged with diluted nitro-sulphuric acid, which quickly put it in a state to exert an intense action.