The San Francisco call. [volume], January 10, 1897, Page 27, Image 27

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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The Location of Life— A Scientific Search for the Seat of Intelligence in Man
»^*iEW people are aware of the strange
li^J labors imposed upon the scientific in
i^\ vestigator in search after knowledge,
'in the field of material physirs there are
some remarkable features, which, when
exploited, disclose curious facts and con
ditions that sharpen the curiosity and en
courage yet further research in pursuit of
the ultimate conclusion. It is a field
which presents most enticing prospects,
and each incursion stimulates the ex
plorer to yet further effort, in the hope of
arriving at the complete knowledge of its
mysteries. Powerful as are its attractions
to the inquiring mind, they are incom
parable to those which half disclose
themselves when the boundary line is
cTossed which surrounds the domain of
the immaterial.
The study of psychophysics, the deter
mination of the relations between physi
cal stimuli and psychic action in the pro
duction of sensations, has always engaged
the deepest consideration and the ex
penditure of skilled energy of the pro
foundest minds. It involves the settle
ment of the question: What is life?
Where does it reside?
The written history of the world is re
plete with records of the arduous labors of
investigators of this absorbing subject.
Great minds have speculated and philoso
phized without definite conclusion, while
some bold students have enunciated a
mathematical formulation that, if th* sen
sation is to increase by apparently equal
differences of intensity, the stimulus must
increase by equal ratios; that is, an arith
metical series of sensations corresponds to
a geometrical series of stimuli. The
Btimulus immediately antecedent to the
sensation is directly proportionate to it,
but has been modified by the organs of
sense and conduction so as to be no longer
directly proportional to the external
stimulus. The psychophysical interpre
tation of this apparent law regarding the
relation between stimulus and sensation
is an important ultimate fact.
The materialistic schools define life as
being that state of protoplasm of an ani
mal or plant capable of what is termed
"metabolism," that is, alteration or
change under proper conditions. So far
as it goes, such definition is good, but we
are desirous that it should go further; we
want to have defined the psychic side of
To Produce Artificial Respiration
M'iEDIGAL men have for years been
' investigating ancient records and
J) experimenting on new ideas in
the hope of discovering some method of
artificial respiration that wouid prove not
only successful, but would be easy of adop
tion and free from danger.
It has been held by many men promi
rent in the .world of medicine tliat hidden
away in the archives of the ancient in-
SYLVESTER'S POSITION, WITH BOTH ARMS TIED ABOVE THE HEAD.
formation could be found in this regard
which would practically revolutionize the
manner of life-saving, but up to now
nothing of moment has been found; that
i«, nothing old has been revived. Never
theless, the old and clumsy method
adopted and now used by many of our
public departments must soon give way
to more advanced science, and it is safe to
say that before the year just born gives
I lace to 1898 a new method of life-saving
will be taught in every public school
throughout the land.
The method used by the "First Aid to
the Injured" and Known as the Sylvester
method is so well known that it will be
necessary to touch only upon it suffi
ciently to explain its defects, and there
are many— some even so serious ai to be
dangerous. Indeed, it has been said time
and again by different professors of
anatomy that of the deaths from drown
ing on record fully one- third can be has
tened by the '•assistance" by the "First
Aid to the Injured."
These repeated statements have caused
no little friction between the regular phy
sician and those anxious to save human
life wherever possible without s thought
of payment for their services, and as in
I all cases the friction thus caused has given
\^ birth to investigation, which fortunately
in the case has given a new impetus to
Brience in the discovery of a system of
producing artificial respiration, which is
both simple, inexpensive (if that may be
considered), absolutely devoid of danger
and almost certain of successful results.
According to the present method, when
respiration is to be artiticially re
stored, the subject is laid upon his back, ,
this life. We regard the soul and the in
telligence as one and the same thing. To
analyze it we must first ascertain its loca
tion, its place of abode in the human
body.
It has remained for an American to
make the first bold attempt to unravel
the mystery. To-day the search is being
patieutJy conducted by an American
scientist in his retreat situated upon the
western slope of the Rocky Mountains in
Arizona.
Some years ago a close student of the
phenomena of life became desirous of
prosecuting his researches yet further
than legal limits permitted. The summer
of 1594 was spent by Dr. ia tne
Rocky M untains. While there he was
the witness of a speedy meting of justice
to a criminal who had been caught red
handed by the avengers of his crime.
The man was hanged to a tree and left
there by his judges and executioners.
Dr. visited the place of execution
about sunset and found the culprit sus
pended from the tree, partly supported
by his feet resting in the fork of a small
limbs, a position into which his struggle
had undoubtedly placed him. Filled with
the desire to make certain sureical investi
gations the doctor cut down the body,
when to his surprise he found that life
was not extinct. As he knelt beside the
body it occurred to him that the oppor
tunity which he had long hoped for had
arrived.
The body before him was that pf a male
factor whose living was a menace and a
pest to society. Outraged justice bad in
flicted her penalty, and to all intents and
purposes the man was dead. Should he
not avail himself of so opportune a.i oc
currence and use the spared remnant of
the wretch's existence to forward the
knowledge for which intelligent human
ity was craving? Hastily opening his
pocket-case, Dr. poured a few drops
of a powerfnl narcotic between the lips of
the insensate man, and then lifting the
limp form upon his horse, returned with
his buroen to the log hut in the canyon.
A simple-minded fellow was the doctor's
sole companion, and but slight explana
tion was necessary to explain to him the
presence of the body. The doctor sent his
servant without delay to the nearest tele
graph station, forty miles away, with a
his chest being elevated by placing the
most convenient thing at hand under hi 3
shoulders. Then the almost barDarons
process begins. The hands of the life
saver are placed upon the chest of the
subject and pressed downward with a
steady and regular force. It is recom
mended that the weiphtof the operator be
thrown upon the hands by a forward
movement o; the body, and indeed if this
is not done there is little hope of again
having the subject breathe, without in
any event he would do so.
This practice of pressing the chest is
perhaps the most dangerous of any trmt
could be imagined. It is rarely that arti
ficial respiration is necessary, except in
cases of drowning, in which, before con
sciousness is lost, the lungs are invariably
filled with more or less volume of water.
When this is the case, heavy pressure on
the chest means simply double the same
pressure on the lungs, and in many in
stances the water is forced through the
fibrous tissue until the lungs are practi
cally shattered. The result of this is ex
actly tbe same as that found in an ad
vanced stage of consumption, except that
their lungs, being free from disease, may
heal without much trouble. But it must
not be supposed that the healing of the
lungs leaves the person as physically
strong as before. Dozens of air cells have
been burst. Their usefulness is forever
gone. Consequently, the volume of respi
ration is diminished, and pulmonary
disease is something that can be looked
forward to in the near future with cer
tainty.
Another old method often used to-day
with more or loss success is to place the
subject face down over a barrel and roll
backward and forward until the chest is
relieved of its burden of water before try
ing to produce artificial respiration. This
has been found to work fairly well, except
that in some cases the blood vessels have
been badly broken, thus making the cure
quite as dangerous as the disease.
Ail these difficulties have had to be con
sidered and avoided before serious consid
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 1897.
carefully worded message to a well-known
friend in Denver, who like the doctor, was
an eager student and an accomplished
scientist. In five days the Denver friend
arrived at the hut. In the meantime the
criminal had been kept in a state of
lethargy. A rough conveyance was con
structed and the body of the criminal re
moved to a place close to one ot the lar er
mountain towns on tne line of the Santa
Fe .Railroad. Then began the series of
experiments herein recorded.
THE MYSTERIOUS SPINDLE-SHAPED OBJECT.
Doctor and his friend occupied a
small house at the rear of which was a log
structure which to all outward appear
ances would have been taken for a corn
crib. No windows and hut one door
pierced the walls. The building was, how
ever, well lighted by a skylight. In the
center of this outbuilding stood a large
solid table upon which was placed the
body.
Already the doctor had ascertained that
f eration could be given to any innovation
I but this has been done, and to-day there is
in vogue a system producing ariificial
| respiration that is as near perfection as
[ seems po^sible.
The principal advantage of this new
method is its t-implicity. The subject is
piaeed upon his back much in the same
position as in the Sylvester method, but
the support under tho shoulders is placed
there to elevate the chest, and must be
from eight to twelve inches high and nar
row enough to tit between the shoulder
blades if possible in order to allow an ex
tended chest expansion by the forcing
back of the arm. Once this position is
secured tbe arms are slowly raised up
ward as far as possible without producing
a strain, and then they are tied together.
Upon examination it will be found that
when this is accomplished the thorax is
wide open, and that in order to rid the
lungs of any water they may contain all
that is necessary is to turn the (subject on
his stomach and elevate the feet.
" : Once the water is out of the lungs the
subject is again placed upon his back, and
artificial respiration is produced ; by ; a linn
and regular : pressure üby.u by. the two thumbs
upon the thorax. The subject is grasped
round the neck much in the mariner that
would be adopted in endeavoring to
strangle a person. < The pressure must be
proceeded with at a rate of about twenty
times to the minute, and it will be found
that breathing begins almost at once, it
is, of ] course, necessary to keep the hands
well to the back of the head. This can be i
accomplished by placing any weight on
them that may be handy, as they, being
tied together/ can be bandied with ease.
: This system has': been discovered by an
Italian i physician named Calliano, who is
at present one of the leading medical au
thorities in Rome. 1: His experiments have
proved highly satisfactory, in i every case,
and in 'the near future ;it L is" his intention
to travel ',- through the ' various ; : ; leading
cities of tne world and expound his new
method before \ the principal medical col
leges.
complete unconsciousness could be main
tained without impeding the continuance
ot the manifestation termed "life." The
insensible body had been regularly
nourished by means of proper liquid foods
administered through a tube inserted into
the stomach through an Incision in the
wall of the sack.
From the 14th of September, 1894, up to
the present time there hav<» been experi
ments had within the wa Is of the log
building which have never before been
equaled in kind or character. It is the
belief of Dr. , and his co-laborer, that
all phyical life must have its power of
continuance coexistent with the psychic,
and consequently located in the same spot.
Reasoning from this assumption, they
hold that, until that certain spot or loca
tion is exterminated, life will continue,
and therefore its exact location in trie
human economy is determinate by a sys
tematic approach, consisting of the suc
Dr. Calliano expects to reap no other re
ward for his teaching than the satisfac
tion he will derive from the Knowledge
that thousands of lives will be saved
owing to his research. He is most anxious
to give information concerning his dis
covery, and upon application will readily
supcly physicians with ail the technical de
taih, which are, of course, of little inter
est to the penpral public.
Besides tliose mentioned there are
many other advantages to bo seen in Dr.
Calliano't method. The labor to the op
erator is greatly lessened, thus enabling
one man alone to handle a subject. There
is absolutely no danger from contusion of
t!ie shoulder- joints, but i-erhaps the fea
ture which will meet with most general
approval ia found in the fact that even the
most uneducate I person can ltarn the
entire method in five minute?.
The Siren.
Oh, siren of the river Eel,
Thou singest as 1 float along
Above thj' crystal waters' flow.
I bear the music of my song,
Now soft and low, now wildly sweet;
Now uprightly, as the dashing sprays;
Now loud, as though the Storm-King's voice
Resounded o'er thy watery ways;
Now tender as a lonely maid,
Who bicKher truant love return,
And tearful, es though half afraid
He would her loving summons spurn.
Thus listening here I wonder not
That men will seek thy moon-lit shrine,
Where bend the trees and bloom the flowers,
And trails tlie fair arbutus-vine,
And fishermen will leave their toil,
And caring naught for life or death.
Will madly seek to clasp thy form
And tasto the sweetness of thy breath;
Though nevermore their boats Rre seen,
And nevermori they fly their nets,
And evermoro the dimpling stream
For their familiar lftu?h'er frets.
GEORGE H. KOERNEE.
San Francisco, January 7, 1897.
How He Brought Her Downstairs.
A workingman was blessed (?) with a
very lazy wife who would not get up and
light the fire in '.he morning.
One morning he went downstairs and
called out:
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
His wife came running downstairs, cry
ing:
"Whore? Where?"
"In every house but ours," answered the
husband; "you ought to have been up
and lit the fire." — Spare Momenta.
lIWIfiEAR Calistoga Hot Springs there exists a remarkable area composed of trunks from the famous petrified forest loca-
Ji\lr' ted a lew miles distant. The arch is supposed to be of aboriginal origin, but the object for which it was erected
yH' has never been discovered. It ia a solitary instance of the enterprise of the Digger Indian, who was never known
to do anything that could be avoided, go averse to work was he.
The inhabitants of Calistopa look upon the "petiified arch" with great veneration, and are prepared at short notice to
relate most wonderful traditions regarding it. The arch is supposed lo have been erected hundreds of years ago, and, ac
cording to Charles Weidner, the artist, is a very interesting monument.
cessive destruction of portions of the tis
sues and frame of the human structure.
Along these lines have the strange and
awful investigations been had. The first
experiment was the removal of both lower
legs at the knee. Healing of the wounds
proceeded rapidly and healthily. Next the
arms were excised at the Bhoulrlers, and
from this severe operation the body recu
perated with satisfactory speed and condi
tion. Then came the removal of the re
maining portions of the legs aUthe upper
thign. Again nature asserted her marvel
on? power of recovery. Daring the time
covered by these capital operations the
body was maintained in its condition of
insensibility and nourished by means of
the stomach tube. The temperature of
the room was maintained at an equable
and proper degree and all sanitary de
mands scrupulously regarded. Then fol
lowed the denuding of the trunk of its
fleshy parts. Each operation was made
The Newest Woman of the West
TfJ^IKE young Lochinvar, many won
\&± ders ride out of the West, and surely
MmJf one o the most interesting these
days is Miss "Bossie" Mulhali. Accord
ing to the baptismal register her name is
Agnes, but down in Oklahoma Territory
records of that sort command small at
tention. Miss Mulhali is the most fear
less rider of her sex who has ridden a
broncho in the West for many moons.
Those who Know say that half of the
marvels she accomplishes have never
been told.
To gain the place in public esteem that
Miss Mulhall holds is no easy Task in that
section of the country. Not only has she
gained it. however, but sbe holds it with
the tenacity of the proverbial leech. Sue
is the dauenter of "Z ich" Muihail, the
livestock agent of the Frisco railroad, the
only daughter of a famous fa:her, for the
cattleman who does not know "Zacb."
Mulhali must be a tenderioot indeed.
There have been all sorts of stories
written of the mysterious heroine of the
range, most of which were directed at
Miss Mulhall, but this is the first time the
actual story of her personality has been
gleaned from facts. The accompanying
illustration, which is drawn from a photo
eraph, is the only truthful one that has
ever appeared in any newspaper, far Mis 3
Muihullisas modest as she is capable,
and it would be difficult to pay her a
higher compliment.
Those who hava riddan the range in the
Southwest well know that it is a task
which calls for constant pluck and iron
endurance. The cowpuncher must be as
strong as his broncho tnd his nerve equal
to tho "gun" that be carries in his hol
ster.- Therefore it is wise for those who
hnve'had no experience to dismiss from
their minds the idea that it is no great
task fir a woman to become one of the
rough riders of the plains. If there are
those who insist on retaining the idea let
them try the actual experience. There is
nothing more convincing.
Miss Muihall is only 18 years old, but
the fame of her accomplishments extends
to every cattleman in Texas Oklahoma
and the Nation. Nature made her a bru
nette or ginally and her active out-of-door
existence has added several shades to the
darkened linge that originally graced her
cheeks. She is by no means an ethereal
young lady, but is the possessor of an ad
mirable figure, surmounted by an admir
swiftly following th» healing of previous
removals. Next came bolder steps. It
was found that certain of the internal or
gans were not essential to the prolonga
tion of the phenomena of life and they
were successfully extirpated. The lungs,
the liver, the kidneys, and lastly, the en
tire abdominal viscera were removed.
Still life existed in the remaining mass.
The ribs had, piece by piece, been taken
away. There was not any canal remain
ing through which might course ihe
ruddy stream of life, and consequently no
further need of the mighty cardiac pump,
and so the heart wns d^pensed with. As
yet the seat of life had not been found,
Where would it be found, if ever?
Then followed experiment after experi
ment so weird and awful that even the
imperative demands of scientific research
could not blind the gha-tiiness of the
work. Piece by piece the vertebra was
separated and removed; the skull was
next operated upon, each suture dissected
and the entire cranium taken away. And
life still continued!
Here came doubt and deliberation. It
has been the popular belief for ages that
the brain was the seat of intelligence, and
therefore of directive life. Yet science
has been unable to point out in the brain
that seat. Medical and surgical science is
aware that the brain maybe wounded and
a portion destroyed without any sensible
change in tbe intellectual faculties. Al
cohol clouds the intellect. Even in the
case of the insane science can prove
nothing except their misfortune. One
Hemisphere of the brain may be atrophied
and vision continue equally good in both
eyes. The seat of the motor principle of
life is unknown to science. True, in man
the proportion of his brain with his in
tellect places an immense interval be
tween him and tbe most gifted lower
animals. But is it the brain alone? Some
speculators have supposed that the cere
bral lobes were the seat of tbe soul.
Others have held fiat the gray cortical
matter was the abode of the intellectual
faculties, while some place tbe intellect as
residing in the anterior lobes of the en
chalon, the moral qualities of the mind
domiciled in the middle lobes and tbe
animal faculties in the posterior lobes.
But the qu stion is. How much is specula
tion, how much is fact?
able and a very pretty face. Her abundant
dark hair is generally worn upon the top
of her bead, because it is always easier to
wear a sombrero that way, or a cap, as in
clination may suggest.
Miss Mulhali does not hesitate to ride
man fashion, as they call it in the land of
the steer and lariat. She can cinch a Cal
ifornia saddle upon her broncho with a
grace and a skill equal to that of the best
"BOSSIE" MULHALL, COWGIRL AND SOCIETY WOMAN.
cowpuncher ol them all. It isn't neces
sary for her to grasp either horn or pom
mel of the saddle if she doesn't choose to
to mount the wicked little Deast that she
best likes lo ride. Of course every cow
puncher expects to be able to do the same
thing, but witti a woman it is different.
Reasoning upon the conclusions drawn
from a consideration cf these enuncia
tions, Dr. and his confrere decided to
take one yet bolder step. The entire
frontal portion of the brain, the cerebrum,
was removed. Life remained !.
Such profound investigations could not
be allowed to pasa unknown to other sin
cere and trustworthy investigators. Sev
eral of Dr. 's co-laborers in the field of
metaphysics were judiciously advised, and
at the close of the past month (November)
there assembled within the walls of the
log building a small but distinguished
gathering of men renowned in surgical
and medical lines, assembled to view and
discuss the remartcabie case there pre
sented. Upon a plain pine table, reposing
upon- a mass of antiseptic cotton, was a
spindle-shaped object about twenty-three
inches long, having a oulbous termina
tion at its superior extremity, and near
the middle of its length a small sack-like
appendage which was connected by means
of a de:icate glass tube with a system of
Wolfe's jars. It was a grayish, pulpy
mass, rounded and smooth, divided along
its length by a fissure in which a layer of
white substance connected the two
halves of the symmetrical tube. Was i
alive? Yea. From the median furrow
innumerable spider-web-looking fibers
and filaments, each of short length, pulsa
ted with slow expansion and contraction.
It lived. It was the seat of life of the
thing called man. It was the principle
which passionate hands had sought to ex
terminate two years before upon the
branches of the tree in the canyon of Ari
zona.
The results of this most remarkable
investigation may not, for very many
years at least, find their way to enrich the
general Knowledge of the lay masses. But
those students of the deeper problems of
life will soon be enlightened by the sum
marized conclusions of the learned doctor
and his confidential co-worker.
To be able to positively assert that life
resides in a certain definable spot within
the human economy is to confer upon
surgery a boon unsurpassable, for with
such knowledge humanity may then be
treated in a manner at once heroic, swift
and sure, in every case where is required
the presence of the surgeon or physician.
F. M. Close, D.Sc.
Not an easy trick to learn, and one which
requires great agility and judgment, for
the bronco is quite as likely to move as he
is to stand still.
The accompanying illustration shows
Mis 3 Mulhali in the costume she wears
when she rides astride. When thus clad
there is no wolf or deer hunt that she will
hesitate about engaging in. As for fol
lowing the hounds, as the Eastern hunts-
men have it, she is yet to engage in a
chase of this sort where she has not been
in at the death. Many a wolf scalp does
she own, and they are all rightfully hers,
too, because she shot the wolves and
scalped them herself. She is a sure shot
with a rifle or shotgun, and knows exactly
the spot in the anatomy of the deer in
which to place the bullet.
Now, Miss Mulhall is a very up-to-date
rider. Her rope is of the finest rawhide,
r.nd she has muscle sufficient to cast it well
and properly. Her pony is well trained of
course, and that is half the battle. In fact
it has been said that if the cowpony could
only throw a rope there would be no neces
sity of having a rider at all. All the
requisites of a rider are, however, possessed
by Miss Mulhall, and those who know de
clare that she roped her first steer with the
skill of a veteran.
With all these accomplishments, she can
break a broncho with skill and dexterity.
That is an ugly task on general principles.
T;.e broncho is always vicious before he is
broken. It is just as natural for him to
bite and kick as it is for a Mississippi
River mate to use profanity, and there is
nothing more natural than that in all the
world. In the first place the pony has to
be roped, and it is a fine dance he
leads whoever has the lariat after that hap*
pens.
These are the things that Miss Mulhall
has endured. She looks at them lightiy,
and many a girl in* Smith and Wellesley
looks with far more terror upon the an
nual "exam" than does this young woman
upon what many a man would hesitate a
long while before attempting.
With all her accomplishments of out-of
door life she has never neglected those
things which help make a woman so at
tractive. There is nothing in her appear
ance or demeanor that savors in the least
of the rough edge which frontier life is
supposed to impart. Thoroughly cultured
and refined, she receives her father's
friends from the city at her beautiful
home just outsidn of Mulhall, O. T.,
with the same finished demeanor that one
observes in the hostess in metropolitan
society. Hard indeed it is to recognize in
Mi s Muihall, the St. Louis society girl,
"Bossie" Mulhall, the cowgirl of the
Southwest. Yet they are one and the
same.
And this is a true story that will be cor
roborated by any Southwestern cattle
man who has ever known the girl that Is
the pride of every rider of the range.
27