That an animal must perish as soon as the temperature of the medium in which it lives ceases to preserve the blood in a state of fluidity, is one of those self-evident propositions which scarcely requires notice, much less explanation; but that a degree of cold not sufficiently intense to occasion any physical changes upon the constituent parts of the body should extinguish its vitality is a fact, whose history involves some of the most interesting questions of physiology.

The degree of cold, necessary for the production of its fatal effects, varies in a very remarkable degree with the strength and circumstances of the individual to whom it is applied, as well as with the rapidity of the cooling process. In some instances we find that man has endured an extreme degree of cold with but little inconvenience, whilst in other cases, we see him perishing from it in a temperature at which water even retains its fluidity. The interesting history of Sir Joseph Bankes (at that time Mr. Bankes), Dr. Solander, and eleven others, on a botanical excursion to the mountains of Terra del Fuego; and more recently, the narrative of our enterprizing countrymen, in their voyage to the Polar seas, will furnish a good illustration of the former fact, whilst the melancholy fate of the Cambridge student, as hereafter explained, affords a curious and instructive example of the latter. Animal heat, as Mr. Brodie observes, is in some way or other dependant upon the integrity of the functions of the Nervous System; and consequently the absolute degree of cold which an animal can bear with impunity will, cÆteris paribus, be determined by his powers of producing heat; we must therefore cease to regard the fact as extraordinary, that an animal, which is under the influence of a deleterious narcotic poison, or in whom, from any other morbid cause, the powers of the nervous system are exhausted, may be destroyed by a diminished temperature, that would scarcely affect even the sensations of one, differently placed in relation to his nervous energy; thus it is with a person in the last stage of intoxication, in whom the powers of life are ebbing, in consequence of the previous state of morbid excitement; in the course of the last winter, two instances occurred of drunken persons being taken to the watch-house; where, there not being any charge against them, they were dismissed by the constable of the night, and perished in the streets. A military friend has lately communicated to us an instance, where out of a great number of troops who were exposed to intense cold, the only one who perished was under the influence of intoxication; and we learn from Le Baume’s interesting account of the campaign in Russia, that similar results were observed during the disastrous retreat of the French army on that memorable occasion.

In our own country scarcely a winter passes without the occurrence of some event equally illustrative of this physiological fact; and it is highly important that the medical jurist should be able to appreciate its influence; those who perish in this manner are generally individuals of the most wretched condition, and will be found to have undergone much suffering and privation; by which their nervous energy had been too much exhausted to generate sufficient heat to counteract the diminished temperature of the atmosphere; an event of this nature occurred in London during the winter of 1819, when a man and his wife, aged persons, and poor, but not supposed, nor indeed proved to have been quite destitute, were found dead in their apartment, although food was discovered in the room, and money was in the pocket of the man: the night (28th of December) had been inclement, and there was neither bed nor fire in the miserable couple’s apartment. It appeared in evidence that they had been previously ailing. The verdict recorded that they had perished from the inclemency of the weather, in consequence of the destitute circumstances under which they were found.

It would seem that persons who are long exposed to intense cold do not suffer a painful death; they gradually lose their sensibility, become drowsy, and die as if through the effects of an opiate. Mr. Brodie^[52] classes the effects of cold in the following order.

1. It lessens the irritability, and impairs the functions of the whole nervous system.

2. It impairs the contractile powers of the muscles.

3. It causes contraction of the capillaries, and thus lessens the superficial circulation, and stops the cutaneous secretion.

4. It probably destroys the principle of vitality, equally in every part, and does not exclusively disturb the functions of any particular organ.

These positions have been confirmed by experiment. Dr. Chassat states that in an animal immersed in a cold bath, death may take place at 79° Fahr. (26 Centig.), although it may be sometimes cooled down as low as 69° (17 Cent.) before it dies; but, cÆteris paribus, the animal dies sooner as the cooling is more rapid.

M. Portal thinks that cold produces death by inducing apoplexy, and remarks that the examination of the bodies of persons who have died from cold, proves the presence of sanguineous congestions in the vessels and cavities of the body, and especially in those of the brain. Dr. Cooke, however, has remarked that “M. Portal’s notions on this subject seem to want confirmation. Excessive cold undoubtedly produces, first drowsiness and afterwards a profound sleep, in which the unfortunate individual generally perishes; but we have not on record a sufficient number of cases with particular descriptions of symptoms and appearances on dissection, to enable us to say positively that cold kills by apoplexy.”

After death the blood is generally florid in the aorta, so that the animal does not die of suffocation; the heart sometimes contracts feebly after the muscular irritability of the limbs and intestines are nearly destroyed; the cerebral veins contain but little blood; the ventricles contain a small portion of fluid. Mr. Brodie’s experiments coincide in most respects with those of Dr. Chassat, who uniformly found after death, the heart much distended with blood, as in Syncope, scarlet blood occupying the left side; and he also found that the heart ceased to contract before the diaphragm, so that he has seen the animal insensible, and gasp for breath, even after the chest was opened and the heart excised! The muscles were unusually florid, and the peristaltic motions of the intestines were generally observed to continue longer than the action of the heart. The voluntary muscles, he says, lose their irritability in different degrees, those of the legs before those of the thighs, and those of the thighs before the abdominal muscles.

We have not yet a sufficient number of well reported experiments on the effects of heat on animals, to enable us to draw any satisfactory conclusions respecting the mode in which life is destroyed by this agent; although it seems probable that it acts by destroying the muscular energy of the heart and diaphragm.^[53]

Mr. Brodie placed a rabit in a basket in an oven, the temperature of which was not more that 150°, and it died in a few minutes without any apparent suffering; the heart was afterwards found distended with blood, on both sides, as in Syncope.

DEATH BY LIGHTNING.

It has been incontrovertibly established by the experiments of modern philosophers, that the phoenomena of electricity are identical with those of thunder and lightning. The human body is alike affected by both; and death, whether it be occasioned by the discharge of an electrical battery, or by that of a thunder cloud, exhibits effects precisely analogous.

Mr. Hunter supposed that when death is thus occasioned, there is an instantaneous and entire annihilation of the vital principle, in every part of the animal machine; and that the muscles are therefore relaxed, and incapable of contraction, that the limbs do not stiffen^[54], as in other cases of death, nor the blood coagulate, and that the body very speedily runs into a state of putrefaction. The experiments however of Mr. Brodie^[55] will induce us to pause, and institute farther enquiries before we receive this theory as unexceptionable. It will appear that in the following experiments of this physiologist, an instantaneous extinction of vitality did not take place, but, on the contrary, the functions of the brain were those on which the electric shock exercised its primary influence. An electric battery of six jars having been charged with electricity, the shock was made to pass through a Guinea pig, in the longitudinal direction from the head to the tail: the animal immediately fell on one side, insensible, as if stunned; a convulsive action of the muscles of the extremities was observed, but did not long continue; and the function of respiration was not interrupted. In a few minutes sensibility was restored, and the animal recovered. A shock from a battery of nine jars was then passed in the same manner through another Guinea pig; the animal immediately fell on its side, exhibited a convulsive action of the voluntary muscles of the limbs, but uttered no cries, and although attentively watched, no signs of respiration could be discovered after the shock had passed through it. Three minutes afterwards, Mr. Brodie opened the chest, and found the heart acting with regularity and vigour, about 80 times in a minute, and circulating dark coloured venous blood; the peristaltic motion of the intestines was likewise visible; and the muscles, when made the part of a galvanic circuit, readily contracted. In this experiment, observes Mr. Brodie, it is evident that the electric shock did not destroy the irritability of the muscular fibre, nor did it affect the action of the heart. Death took place precisely in the same manner as from a severe injury of the head; and the animal died, manifestly from the destruction of the functions of the brain; and, in this case, Mr. Brodie has no doubt, but that if the lungs had been artificially inflated, the action of the heart might have been maintained, and the animal probably have been restored to life.

The nature and extent of the injury inflicted by lightning, depend upon the intensity and direction of the electrical discharge, and vary greatly in degree; by far the greater number of flashes are harmless discharges from one cloud to another, and the instances in which it strikes the earth are comparatively rare: when however this does occur, and it directs its course through a human being, it may expend its influence upon the surface, and produce partial or general vesications.^[56] Sometimes the clothes of the person have been violently rent, and the metallic substances about them melted; or it may pass through the body, without including the clothes, and it may occasion death without injuring the organic structure of any part of the body: or it may pass through only a particular portion of the body, and produce local injury.

But it has happened that persons have been struck when the tempest has appeared to be at a considerable distance; this has been explained by Signor Beccaria, by supposing that it is a discharge of electric fluid from the earth, occasioned by the passing of a cloud that has just before, in the elemental strife, been rendered negatively electric. Lord Stanhope distinguishes such a discharge by the name of the Returning Stroke.^[57]

As a provision for personal security during a thunder storm, a few precautions are necessary, and we are induced to notice them in this place, as their history is necessarily involved in our enquiries concerning death by lightning. In the open air, shelter ought not to be sought immediately under trees, for should they be struck, such a situation would be attended with the most imminent peril: on the contrary, the distance of twenty or thirty feet from such objects, may be considered as affording a place of safety, for should a discharge take place, they will most likely receive it, and the less elevated bodies will escape. Any surface of water, and even the streamlets that may have resulted from a recent shower should be avoided, for being excellent conductors, the height of a man, when connected with them, is very likely to determine the course of an electrical discharge. The partial conductors, through which the lightning directs its course when it enters a building, are usually the appendages of the walls and partitions; the most secure situation is therefore the middle of the room, and this situation may be rendered still more secure by lying on a hair mattress, or even on a thick woollen hearth rug. The part of every building least likely to receive injury is the middle story, as the lightning does not always pass from the clouds to the earth, but is occasionally discharged from the earth to the clouds, as in the case of the “returning stroke;” hence it is absurd to take refuge in a cellar, as recommended by Dr. Priestley; indeed many instances are on record, in which the basement story has been the only part of a building that has sustained severe injury, the electric charge being divided and weakened as it ascended. Any approach to a fire-place should be particularly avoided, for the chimneys are very likely to determine the course of the lightning; the same caution is necessary with respect to gilt furniture, bell-wires, and moderately extensive surfaces of metal of every description.

DEATH BY STARVATION.

That a living animal body cannot long survive without the ingestion of alimentary matter, is too self-evident to require demonstration. Living bodies, says Cuvier, may be considered as a kind of furnaces into which inert substances are successively thrown, which combine among themselves in various manners, maintain a certain place, and perform an action determined by the nature of the combinations they have formed, and at last fly off in order to become again subject to the laws of inanimate nature.

It must, however, be observed, that there is a difference, depending on age and health, in the proportion of the parts which enter into the current, and those which abandon it; and that the velocity of the motion usually varies according to the different conditions of each living body; hence it follows, that the period during which an individual may exist without food, will be liable to variation. We have already stated (page 394) that, cÆteris paribus, he will perish from inanition with a rapidity proportioned to his youth, and state of robust vigour; and we remarked in what strict conformity with physiological principles the poet Dante had described the fate of Ugolino and his family.^[58] The same fact appears also to have been well understood by the ancient physicians;^[59] equally evident is it that women are able to support abstinence longer than men. It has been also observed that a moist atmosphere contributes to the protraction of life, under circumstances of privation; this may depend, not only upon the fluid matter thus furnished to the body, but upon the non-conducting power of the medium, in relation to aqueous vapour; the ingestion of a very small proportion of water revives in an extraordinary degree, the animal perishing from famine, and prolongs his existence. Redi^[60] instituted a series of experiments with the sole view of ascertaining how long animals can live without food. Of a number of capons which he kept without either solid or liquid food, not one survived the ninth day; but one to which he allowed water, drank it with avidity, and did not perish until the twentieth day. Elizabeth Woodcock, who was buried under the snow, near Cambridge, for the space of eight days, undoubtedly owed her preservation to the snow which she occasionally sucked.^[61]

Those cases of extraordinary fasting, which are recorded in the different Transactions and Journals of almost every country, are to be generally regarded as gross impositions; we^[62] have already exposed the fallacy of several of the more popular histories of this kind. Such impostors, however, in their attempt to delude the world, have unintentionally offered themselves as the voluntary victims of physiological experiment; for we have at least learnt from them how small a portion of aliment is sufficient to preserve the life of a human being; a fact which had never before been satisfactorily proved, however probable it had been rendered, by the recorded habits of many of the early Christians, especially those of the East, who retired from persecution into the deserts of Arabia and Egypt.

The sufferings of a person perishing from inanition^[63] must be considered as the most acute that can befall humanity; and yet we have instances on record of their having been voluntarily encountered as the means of suicide; a very interesting and well-authenticated instance of this kind has been related as having occurred in Corsica;^[64] and, as it is calculated to afford, at once, a history of the symptoms of Starvation, and an exemplification of their severity, we shall introduce a brief account of the case in this place. Luc Antoine Viterbi was condemned to death as an accomplice in the assassination of Frediani, a crime which he denied to the last moment, and appealed against a sentence passed upon him by a Court composed of his personal enemies. Towards the end of November, Viterbi (knowing his condemnation, and being confined in the prison of Bastia), resolved to die. To effect his purpose, he abstained from food for three days, and then ate voraciously, and to a forced excess, in the hope that, after fasting so long, he should thereby put an end to his existence; in this however he was deceived, and, on the second of December, he determined to starve himself to death; from that day nothing could shake his awful resolution, although he did not expire until the night of the 21st of that month. During the three first days, Viterbi felt himself progressively tormented by hunger; under these circumstances a report was made to the public minister, who ordered bread, water, wine, and soup to be taken daily to his cell, and placed conspicuously in view. No debility was manifested during these three days, no irregular muscular movement was remarked, his ideas continued sound, and he wrote with his usual facility, but took no nourishment.

From the 5th to the 6th, to hunger insensibly succeeded the much more grievous suffering of thirst, which became so acute, that on the 6th, without ever deviating from his resolution, he began to moisten his lips and mouth occasionally, and to gargle with a few drops of water, to relieve the burning pain in his throat; but he let nothing pass the organs of deglutition, being desirous not to assuage the most insupportable cravings, but to mitigate a pain which might have shaken his resolution. On the 6th, his physical powers were a little weakened; his voice was nevertheless still sonorous, pulsation regular, and a natural heat equally extended over his whole frame. From the 3d to the 6th, he had continued to write; at night several hours of tranquil sleep seemed to suspend the progress of his sufferings, no change was observable in his mental faculties, and he complained of no local pain. Until the 10th, the thirst became more and more insupportable; Viterbi merely continued to gargle, without once swallowing a single drop of water; but in the course of the 10th, overcome by excess of pain, he seized the jug of water, which was near him, and drank immoderately. During the last three days, debility had made sensible progress, his voice became feeble, pulsation had declined, and the extremities were cold. Viterbi, however, continued to write; and sleep, each night, still afforded him several hours ease.

From the 10th to the 12th the symptoms made a slight progress. The constancy of Viterbi never yielded an instant; he dictated his journal, and afterwards approved and signed what had been thus written agreeably to his dictation. During the night of the 12th, the symptoms assumed a more decided character, debility was extreme, pulsation scarcely sensible, his voice extraordinarily feeble, the cold had extended itself all over the body, and the pangs of thirst were more acute than ever. On the 13th the unhappy man thinking himself at the point of death, again seized the jug of water, and drank twice, after which the cold became more severe; and congratulating himself that death was nigh, he stretched his body on the bed, and said to the gendarmes who were guarding him, “Look how well I have laid myself out.” At the expiration of a quarter of an hour, he asked for some brandy; the keeper not having any, he called for some wine, of which he took four spoonsful; when he had swallowed these the cold suddenly ceased, heat returned, and Viterbi enjoyed a sleep of four hours. On awaking (on the morning of the 13th) and finding his powers restored, he fell into a rage with the keeper, protesting that they had deceived him, and then began beating his head violently against the wall of his prison, and would inevitably have killed himself, had he not been prevented by the gendarmes. During the two following days he resisted his inclination to drink, but continued to gargle occasionally with water; during the two nights he suffered a little from exhaustion, but in the morning found himself rather relieved. It was then that he penned some stanzas. On the 16th, at five o’clock in the morning, his powers were almost annihilated, pulsation could hardly be felt, and his voice was almost inaudible; his body was benumbed with cold, and it was thought that he was on the point of expiring. At ten o’clock he began to feel better, pulsation was more sensible, his voice strengthened, and, finally, heat again extended over his frame, and in this state he continued during the whole of the 17th. From the latter day until the 20th, Viterbi only became more inexorable in his resolution to die. During the 19th, the pangs of hunger and thirst appeared more grievous than ever; so insufferable, indeed, were they, that for the first time, Viterbi let a few tears escape him; but his invincible mind instantly spurned this human tribute. For a moment he seemed to have resumed his wonted energy, and said, in the presence of his guards, and the gaoler, “I will persist, whatever may be the consequence; my mind shall be stronger than my body; my strength of mind does not vary, that of my body daily becomes weaker.” A little after this energetic expression, an icy coldness again assailed his body, the shiverings were frequent and dreadful, and his loins, in particular, were seized with a stone-like coldness, which extended itself down his thighs. During the 19th a slight pain at intervals affected his heart, and for the first time, he felt a ringing sensation in his ears; at noon, on this day, his head became heavy; his sight, however, was perfect, and he conversed almost as usual, making some signs with his hands.

On the 20th, Viterbi declared to the gaoler and physician, that he would not again moisten his mouth; and feeling the approach of death he stretched himself, asking, as on a former occasion, whether he was well out, and added, “I am prepared to leave this world.” Death did not this time betray his hopes. On the 21st Viterbi was no more.

In this interesting history, we receive a faithful account of the physical effects of starvation upon a human being, and perceive how greatly a very inconsiderable portion of liquid is capable of producing an invigorating effect upon the body, when in a state of extreme inanition; but the mind of the subject before us was stern and invincible, inflexibly bent upon self destruction; and we therefore do not perceive the developement of those moral effects, which in other cases are the general consequences of starvation. The histories of besieged towns^[65] would afford us ample evidence upon this subject; and would shew that famine destroys all the most powerful instincts of our nature. We know not, however, a more awful illustration of this fact than that furnished by the account of the wreck of the MÉduse,^[66] and its appalling consequences; it appears that this frigate struck on the bank of Arguin, and as all attempts to save her were fruitless, nothing remained but to concert immediate measures for the escape of the passengers and crew; five boats were accordingly got in readiness, and a raft, destined to carry the greatest number of people, was hastily constructed; biscuit, wine, and fresh water were also apportioned to each; but in the tumult of abandoning the wreck, it so happened that the raft had the least share of the provisions, and in which there was not a single barrel of biscuit. This raft, containing no less than one hundred and fifty souls, was to have been towed by the boats, with which it was connected by ropes; but the adventurers had not proceeded far, when the boats cast off, and cruelly abandoned the raft to the mercy of the ocean; to the scene which ensued it is impossible for any language, however florid, to do adequate justice. Despair, aided by the pangs of hunger, soon excited a mutiny; a dreadful slaughter ensued, and the flesh of their murdered comrades afforded to the survivors a short respite from the immediate sufferings of famine.