Observations on apparent death from drowning, hanging, suffocation, etc, &c. and an account of the means to be employed for recovery. To which are added the treatment proper in cases of poison, with cautions and suggestions respecting various circumstances of sudden danger / [James Curry].

  • Curry, James, -1819.
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on apparent death from drowning, hanging, suffocation, etc, &c. and an account of the means to be employed for recovery. To which are added the treatment proper in cases of poison, with cautions and suggestions respecting various circumstances of sudden danger / [James Curry]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3. How long a body may continue in this seemingly lifeless condition, and yet admit of recovery, has not been precisely ascertained. In some cases a recovery is known to have taken place even after intermentand in others the necessary steps to embalming the body, though delayed for several days, have proved that the vital spark was not completely destroyed but by the knife of the operator*! The cases of apparent death occasioned by excessive cold, by the various modes of suffo¬ cation, &c., do not, indeed, afford any ex¬ ample of a recovery after so long an interval as that just mentioned; yet in many of them, animation was brought about, after having been suspended for several hours, and frequent¬ ly under the most discouraging circumstances, both with regard to the nature of the accident, and the appearances exhibited by the body. It is therefore with good reason believed, that, in many cases, the body retains its Vital Prin¬ ciple in a greater or less degree, for some time after all the outward signs of life have disap¬ peared, and probably does not part with it entirely, so long as the vital organs continue of their natural warmth; and consequently it would * See Note 2. in Appendix,