hung for the legal period, which at one time was limited in Scotland to an hour, and the functions again restored. Several years ago a woman underwent her sentence in Edinburgh. Her body was delivered to her friends, and placed in a cart, in order to be conveyed to some distance in the country. On the road the friends entered a publichouse for refreshment. On coming again to the cart, to their astonishment they found their executed relation restored to life. She afterwards for many years sold salt through the streets of Edinburgh, under the name of "half-hanged Maggie Dickson."

In fainting, where the circulation is suspended, there is apparent death, as in asphyxia, but the dark-coloured blood does not circulate so as to act as a poison. It may continue so long that preparations have been. made for the burial of the body, and yet resuscitation take place. It has even been stated, and is a matter of general popular belief, that interment has been carried into effect on persons in this state, affording foundation for the concocters of stories of the horrible and awful. Now, in the above case of “ half-hanged Maggie," it is most probable that when she was about to be cast off, she fainted, and that therefore excitability remained. It is also probable that the jolting of the cart conduced to her restoration. Drowning produces death by the water causing a spasmodic closure of the glottis, so that there is little or no hope of restoring the functions after a few minutes immersion. But there are instances where persons have been under water for a much longer period, and yet revived. These admit of the same explanation as similar cases from hanging, for fainting. has occurred at the moment of immersion.

Carbonic acid being a product of many operations carried on in nature, and in the arts, frequently produces fatal effects by either of its modes of action, that is, by causing suffoca tion, or acting as a narcotic poison. Being heavier than atmospheric air, it occupies the lowest situation.

It some

times accumulates in old wells and mines, and is known to the miner under the expressive name of choke-damp. It is also found in caves, as in the Grotto del Cane in Italy. The celebrated valley of the Upas tree in Java is destructive of animal life from containing this gas. It is given off during fermentation; hence the danger of entering a brewer's vat immediately after the liquor is drawn off, as the vessel remains for sometime filled with it. As has been shewn, it is discharged from the breath during respiration. In crowded and ill-ventilated apartments it sometimes accumulates in a quantity to prove noxious, causing drowsiness and averseness to action. The victims in the black hole of Calcutta seem to have been destroyed by it. It is generated during combustion; hence the danger of leaving charcoal or cinders unextinguished in sleeping chambers or ill ventilated rooms, the neglect of which has not unfrequently produced fatal consequences. Narcotic poisons, such as opium, ardent spirits, &c., act by deadening the sensibility of the brain and nerves: the muscular movements essential to breathing are slowly and imperfectly performed; the necessary salutary changes are not produced on the blood; it mounts to the brain, and the evil is aggravated so as soon to place the patient beyond the possibility of recovery.

Means of restoring Animation.-From what has just been stated, not a moment ought to be lost in having recourse to proper measures with the view of restoring animation. In hanging, death may be caused in two ways. The bones of the neck may be dislocated, when death instantly and inevitably takes place; or suffocation is produced, inducing asphyxia. In drowning, apparent death may arise from two causes, 1st, the person may be submersed in the water while respiration is going on; or 2dly, fainting may occur previous to immersion. The chance of recovery is very different in these two conditions, and therefore it is very important to distinguish between them when a person is taken out of the water.

In the former case, the face appears swollen and livid, especially the lips and ears. There is usually frothy mucus about the mouth and nostrils, and the rest of the body is generally pale. In the latter condition, there is paleness of the face, without marks of struggle in the features or in the neck, and the countenance appears tranquil, as in a deep sleep. The first circumstance to be attended to is to place the body in as favourable a posture for the process of breathing as possible. With this view, it is to be placed with the head and upper part somewhat elevated. The neck is instantly to be laid bare, and all bandages surrounding the chest immediately cut. As the glottis is most likely still in a state of spasm, the larynx must be drawn downwards; at the sametime the shoulders, ribs, and breastbone must be elevated, that the residual air in the lungs may dilate, and a fresh portion be drawn in; the respiratory movements of the chest are as far as possible to be imitated.

If these fail, the lungs should be inflated, either with bellows or by blowing air with the mouth through the nostrils or mouth, care being taken to keep the larynx drawn down, that the glottis be kept open, and also gently pressed upon the gullet, that air may be prevented from passing into the stomach. During inflation means ought to be adopted for simultaneously enlarging the chest, for if this be neglected, and the air be forced into the cells while the lungs are compressed by the walls of the chest, the delicate air tubes may be ruptured, and the patient placed beyond the possibility of recovery.

From the important relations between the skin and the lungs, the body being stripped, which it ought to be as soon as possible, it is to be rubbed with hot flannels, and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet diligently brushed. In order to arouse irritability, stimulating vapours may be applied to the nostrils; and, with the view of relieving the brain, the

jugular vein may be opened. If the temperature be reduced, means must be had recourse to for imparting heat. Bags filled with warm sand, salt, sawdust, &c., or bottles filled with hot water, wrapt up in cloth, may be applied to the soles of the feet, pit of the stomach, &c. Frictions with hot flannel are at the same time to be persisted in. The warm bath, on physiological principles, to say the least, is of very doubtful efficacy; for though in this way heat be readily imparted, still the beneficial influence of the air upon the skin is lost, and other important means for resuscitation cannot be so well applied at the same time with it. If by these means we happily succeed in the re-establishment of respiration, we must not intermit our attentions. For the first blood transmitted by the heart being only imperfectly purified, may paralyze the brain, induce stupor, and endanger life. The patient must be kept roused, a moderate bleeding may be useful, and he must be assisted and kept walking about till the vital functions are again fairly established. When asphyxia has been produced by causes which do not at the same time carry off the heat of the body, as from exposure to carbonic acid, dashing cold water upon the face may be of advantage. Where dangerous symptoms arise from poisons, such as from opium and other narcotics, there is generally time for procuring professional assistance, when measures will be adopted which can only be properly carried into effect by professional hands, or had recourse to under the immediate superintendence of the professionally instructed.

CHAPTER III.

DIGESTION.

A General Account of the Changes which the Food undergoes in the Digestive Organs-Man a Cooking Animal-Food assimilated to the Temperature of the Body in the Mouth-Teeth, their Structure and Use in various Animals-The Teeth of Man, their Form, Number, and Structure-Why there are two Sets-Motions of the Jaw-Saliva, Composition and Use of-Deglutition-General view of the Alimentary Canal--Stomach-Duodenum-Small Intestine-Large Intestine-Liver-Spleen-Pancreas-Organs of Digestion in Carnivorous Animalsin Ruminants-in Birds-Digestive apparatus of Man adapted to a greater variety of Food than that of any other Animal-Animal Food, and its proximate principles-Vegetable Food, and its proximate principles-One or other most suitable to different climates-Concentration, Variety, Consistence, and Quantity influence the Digestibility of Food-Condiments, Salt, Acids, Bitters, Astringents, Aromatics-Hunger and Thirst-Chymification-Gastric Juice-Its peculiar powers-Chylification-Biliary, Pancreatic, and Intestinal Secretions-Chyle absorbed, and conveyed through intricate channels, becomes gradually assimilated to, and converted into perfect Blood-Last efforts for the Abstraction of Nourishment-Drinks-Several substances introduced into the Circulation from the Alimentary Canal without being changed.

THE continual expenditure which goes on in the body, from the fluids dissipated on the surface of the skin and in the breath, the discharges that take place in urine, and other secretions, and the constant changes occurring in the materials of every part of the body, demand fresh matter to compensate for the loss. During the whole existence of all living bodies, a perpetual succession of matter occurs; the old is discharged, and new taken up in its place. Plants being fixed to a single spot, immediately receive into their systems the materials on which they subsist, as it is presented to them, without its being previously subjected to alteration; while animals, on the