They are not dead : Restoration by the "heat method," of those drowned, or otherwise suffocated / by T.S. Lambert.
- Lambert, T. S. (Thomas Scott), 1819-1897
- Date:
- 1879
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: They are not dead : Restoration by the "heat method," of those drowned, or otherwise suffocated / by T.S. Lambert. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![Many metaphysical and irrelevant questions are asked, such as, ''Does life wait, or does it return, in case of re- covery ? '* How long do life and si)irit wait to find out whether or not anything is going to be done toward a re- covery ? etc., etc., ad nauseam. But as these are not practical, as no man can answer most of them, nor would wish to bother his brains with them if he could solve them, I certainly shall not try, but shall pass them. WHEN IS A MAN EEALLT DEAD ? One doctor, however, asks a very thoughtful question : Are you sure that life can be re-excited when the heart of warm-blooded man has stopped, his consciousness faded, his delicate nervous centres have become quite cold, his muscles have iDassed into rigor mortis [stiffness of death], and his life has apparently taken its last farewell of his body ? This, if possible, is a great and glorious restoration. I do not hint that I think it absolutely impossible. To con- vince and suggest that it can be done, though it fail, is a grand idea and full of humanity, since how many are the cases in which, if successful, it will be a balm to the deep- est anguish the heart ever experiences, the sudden taking off of loved ones in the prime of life. I know by experience what it is, I had a son drowned. Certainly no harm can come from having the whole subject re-investigated, or rather investigated, since what is supposed to be known is mostly but unscientific assumptions based upon popular notions, and derived from appearances. I will gladly aid you here- in. It must be acknowledged that only a probable affirmative can now be given to this profoundly interesting and import- ant question. Yet it does not seem singular to any one that an animal or person should recover after being drown-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21062961_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
