was the fame. Such an accident struck the whole neighbourhood with a panic, and no one was forward to venture any farther, till a fellow, more hardy and zealous than the reft, perfuaded that the five people were not dead, would go down to give them help. .He cried too, and was heard no more. Upon this a fixth man, taking with him a hook, drew the laft of them forth without going to the bottom, who, fetching a deep figh, died. Next day the baker's friend, undertaking to get up all the carcases with the hook, was let down with ropes. He called out, and in the hafte the rope breaking, he fell into the cellar, and was dead. The magiftrates, taking cognizance of the cafe, the physicians were confulted, who advised a good deal of water to be thrown down. This being performed, a dog and a lighted candle were let down without injury to either, and the dead bodies in this cellar were taken out.

There is a small grotto at the foot of a little hill, about 8 feet high, 12 long, and 6 broad; from the ground there arifes a thin fubtle fume visible enough to a difcerning eye, which does not fpring up in little parcels here and there, but is one continued strean, covering the whole furface of the bottom of the cave; and has

*Called Grotto del Cani.

this remarkable difference from common vapours, that it does not, like smoke, disperse itself into the air, but quickly after its rife falls back again, and returns to the earth; the colour of the fides of the grotto being the measure of its afcent, for fo far it is of a darkish green, and higher only common earth, and therefore we find no inconvenience by standing in it; and so no animal, if its head be kept above this mark, is in the least injured. But when a dog or any other creature is forcibly held below it, or by reason of its fmallness cannot hold its head above it, it presently, like one ftunned, loses all motion, falls down as dead, or in a fwoon, the limbs are convulfed and trembling, till at last no more figns of life appear than a weak and almost infenfible beating of the heart and arteries, which, if the animal be left there a little longer, quickly ceases too, and then the cafe is irrecoverable; but if fnatched out, and laid in the open air, it foon comes to life again, and sooner yet if thrown into the adjacent lake.

The Ruffians and Germans are frequently expofed, during their cold feafon, from the noxious air of their ftoves, and want of due ventilations.

As foon as a perfon with them is difcovered to be deprived of fenfe and motion, he is ftripped naked, and

VOL. III.

4 K

brought

brought into the open air; where he is rubbed with now, or cold water is dashed repeatedly over the surface of his body.

To attempt to restore loft heat, by the application of cold water, or fnow, muft appear prepofterous folly to those who have long been in the habit of applying artificial heat; whether the fufferer is drowned under the thick ice, or fuffocated by inflammable air; bleached by the drifted fnow; or fcorched by the vivid rays of lightning.

How can we reconcile this practice in fuch different cafes to the fuggeftions of common fenfe! Shall we, with JOHN HUNTER, fay, that cold is fuited to the feeble power of life; or with JOHN BROWN, that it is adapted to the accumulated irritability of the fibre. Undoubtedly, the method above stated is univerfally practifed throughout the north, even with the common people, and with conftant fuccefs, where respiration has not been fufpended above an hour*. This is an argumentum crucis, that all parties muft ultimately acquiefce in, however they may choose to explain the fact.

* Vide Dr. FOTHERGILL's Enquiry into the Sufpenfion of Vital Action in Cafes of Drowning and Suffocation, page 136, a work that has been repeatedly Spoken of, and praised for its great ingenuity and candour.

SECT.

SECT. L.

OF ASPHYXIA FROM HANGING.

Ir death was nothing, and nought after death;
if when men dy'd, at once they ceas'd to be,
returning to the barren womb of nothing,
whence first they fprung-Then might the wretch
that's weary of the world, and tir'd of life,
at once give each inquietude the flip,

by stealing out of being, when he pleas'd,
and by what way; whether by hemp, or steel.
Death's thousand doors ftand open.-Who could force
the ill-pleafed guest to fit out his full time,.
or blame him if he goes ?-Sure he does well

that helps himself, as timely as he can,

when able.

-But if there is an hereafter,

and that there is, CONSCIENCE, uninfluenc'd
and fuffer'd to speak out, tells every man;
then must it be an awful thing TO DIE:
more horrid yet, TO DIE by one's own hand.
Self-murder!-dreadful deed!-our island's fhame:
that makes her the reproach of neighbouring states.
Shall NATURE, fwerving from her earliest dictate
Self-prefervation, fall by her own act?

Forbid it heaven!--Let not, upon disgust,
the fhameless hand be foully crimfon'd o'er
with blood of its own Lord.-Dreadful attempt !
Just reeking from felf-flaughter, in a rage
to rush into the prefence of OUR JUDGE;
as if we challeng'd him to do his worst,
and heeded not his wrath.-

BLAIR.

From what has been already obferved, it seems evident, that whether death is brought on by fubmerfion, or noxious air, the effects produced on the animal body are fo nearly fimilar, that these several modes of death may not improperly be referred to the fame common cause. But with respect to the effects of hanging, moft authors have inclined to the fide of APOPLEXY, and this is much infifted on by Drs. CULLEN and BOERHAAVE, and of late by Mr. KITE; and as a difference in theory cannot but influence prafice, it therefore demands the most serious investigation.

It is obfervable, that in APOPLEXY the irritability continues feveral hours, while in drowning or hanging the animal functions are abolished in a few minutes.

In APOPLEXY, refpiration, together with the action of the heart and arteries, go on, and the pulfe often vibrates more forcibly than in health.-In HANGING, or DROWNING, refpiration is fuppreffed, and the pulfe obliterated.

In apparent death from APOPLEXY, very few.recover, and those few generally become paralytic.-In vital fuspenfion from DROWNING or HANGING, many are restored, and yet no palfy fupervenes *.

* Vide PART V. Se&t. on Apoplexy.