Guillotine by New Scientist

A reader in Oxford asked the column:  Does beheading hurt?  And if so, for how long is the severed head aware of its plight?

A reader in Cambridge replied that yes, it does hurt, but how much depends on the executioner's skill [and, I add, the sharpness of the blade - some upper class prisoners used to ask for a sword rather than an axe because the blade was sharp and made a cleaner, faster cut].  Anyway, he mentions the groan emitted by Mary Queen of Scots in 1587, when it took 3 blows and a fair bit of sawing to completely sever her head. 
All the observations made during the French Revolution during guillotining established that consciousness remains for up to 30 seconds after beheading. 
An Australian reader added that some prisoners would be asked to blink for as long as possible after decapitation.

The excerpt I really wanted to share with you was sent in by a reader from London.  This awful detail sadly appeals to my morbidly scientific side and I find it all too fascinatingly easy to imagine...

It comes from a Dr Beaurieux, who experimented with the head of the murderer Languille, executed at 5.30am on 28 June 1908.  [Shockingly recent?]

Here, then is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation:  the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds ... I waited for several seconds.  The spasmodic movements ceased.  The face relaxed, the lids half closed on the eyeballs ... exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day in the exercise of our profession, or as in those just dead.  It was then that I called out in a strong, sharp voice:  'Languille!'  I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions ... Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves ... After several seconds, the eyelids closed again, slowly and evenly, and the head took on the same appearance as it had had before I called out.
It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time.  Then there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete.  I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead.
I have just recounted to you with rigorous exactness what I was able to observe.  The whole thing had lasted twenty-five to thirty seconds.
***

I think 30 seconds is the length of time it takes the brain to die.  Thing is, as he responded to the calls, and as all the related nerves were still connected to the brain, how much was reflex and how much conscious action?  I also imagine that the nerves and brain still registered pain but did he feel it or not, after the initial blow?
They say that there must be a couple of seconds of acute pain, but does the signal continue in the brain?
If it is all reflex, then it's all over, but if it's consciousness, for those 30 seconds, did he have an opinion on his manner of death or the repent of the crime he committed to reach that point?

Here for further details on guillotining

posted by: Olivia77 at 23:38 | link | comments (1) |

First Desire

As I watched summer breezes play among the leaves
I realised
I wanted him

I never wanted anyone before
Stirrings of first desire
An aching deep inside

But
Like leaves under an autumn frost
It died a slow and painful death

posted by: Olivia77 at 12:11 | link | comments (8) |
poesie