Essay upon the question, Is medical science favourable to scepticism? / by James W. Dale.

  • Dale, James W. (James Wilkinson), 1812-1881.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essay upon the question, Is medical science favourable to scepticism? / by James W. Dale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    15/22
    Greek verb, nuttein, signifies to wound superficially. Thus it is alleged nothing occurs to account for death. Distinguished medical men have not been wanting to give a full reply to this reasoning, and to vindicate the Scripture narrative. The following is condensed from Kichter, Gruner and Eschen. back. The torments of crucifixion were fearful, not merely from the wounds inflicted, gangrene from exposure to sun and heat, and painful posture of body, but from the effects of position on the circulation, and other ordinary functions of life. The pressure on the aorta must have impeded the free course of the blood, and disabled it from receiving all that furnished by the left ventricle, and thus prevented the blood from the lungs being re- turned. The pulmonary and other veins and arteries about the heart and chest, must have been congested; increasing greatly bodily suffering. The previous night was one of torture and restless fatigue, so that one of the rarest phenomena, a bloody sweat, had been caused. The Saviour likewise was so enfeebled that he could not bear his cross. Gruner shows the great probability that the wound was in- flicted on the left side, and from below, transversely upwards. Such a stroke must have inflicted a deadly wound. To this moment it is supposed that life faintly remained, otherwise the blood would not have flowed. But this wound which, from the flow of blood and water, was probably in the cavity of the chest, must have been necessarily fatal. In opposition to the adverse declaration, it is shown that the verb nuttein is used to denote a mortal wound. In fine, so far from the spices used in embalming, or the close chamber of the tomb being fit restoratives to a person in a trance, they would be the most secure instruments for con- verting apparent into real death, by suffocation. The time also was not at all sufficient to restore health and strength to a frame which had undergone the shattering tortures of crucifixion. If medical science forges a weapon sometimes used against religion, the case before us proves that it is susceptible of being wielded yet more efficiently in her defence. The independent existence, immateriality and immortality, of the soul are Scripture truths, on which medical science has a bearing. Many of the most scientific cultivators of physiological medicine have sustained these truths. By some, however, they have been questioned. Life is regarded, by these persons, as the result of organization,