Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin/Obſervations on the generally prevailing Doctrines of Life and Death
OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENERALLY PREVAILING DOCTRINES OF LIFE AND DEATH.
TO THE SAME.
YOUR obſervations on the cauſes of death, and the experiments which you propoſe for recalling to life thoſe who appear to be killed by lightning, demonſtrate equally your ſagacity and humanity. It appears that the doctrines of life and death, in general, are yet but little underſtood.
A toad buried in ſand will live, it is ſaid, until the ſand becomes petrified; and then, being incloſed in the ſtone, it may ſtill live for we know not how many ages. The facts which are cited in ſupport of this opinion, are too numerous and too circumſtantial not to deſerve a certain degree of credit. As we are accuſtomed to ſee all the animals with which we are acquainted eat and drink, it appears to us difficult to conceive how a toad can be ſupported in ſuch a dungeon. But if we reflect, that the neceſſity of nouriſhment, which animals experience in their ordinary ſtate, proceeds from the continual waſte of their ſubſtance by perſpiration; it will appear leſs incredible, that ſome animals in a torpid ſtate, perſpiring leſs becauſe they uſe no exerciſe, ſhould have leſs need of aliment; and that others, which are covered with ſcales or ſhells, which ſtop perſpiration, ſuch as land and ſea turtles, ſerpents, and ſome ſpecies of fiſh, ſhould be able to ſubſiſt a conſiderable time without any nouriſhment whatever.—A plant, with its flowers, fades and dies immediately, if expoſed to the air without having its roots immerſed in a humid foil, from which it may draw a ſufficient quantity of moiſture, to ſupply that which exhales from its ſubſtance, and is carried off continually by the air. Perhaps, however, if it were buried in quickſilver, it might preſerve, for a conſiderable ſpace of time, its vegetable life, its ſmell and colour. If this be the caſe, it might prove a commodious method of tranſporting from diſtant countries thoſe delicate plants which are unable to ſuſtain the inclemency of the weather at ſea, and which require particular care and attention.
I have ſeen an inſtance of common flies preſerved in a manner ſomewhat ſimilar. They had been drowned in Madeira wine, apparently about the time when it was bottled in Virginia, to be ſent to London. At the opening, of one of the bottles, at the houſe of a friend where I was, three drowned flies fell into the firſt glaſs which was filled. Having heard it remarked that drowned flies were capable of being revived by the rays of the ſun, I propoſed making the experiment upon theſe. They were therefore expoſed to the ſun, upon a ſieve which had been employed to ſtrain them out of the wine. In leſs than three hours two of them began by degrees to recover life. They commenced by ſome convulſive motions in the thighs, and at length they raiſed themſelves upon their legs, wiped their eyes with their fore feet, beat and bruſhed their wings with their hind feet, and ſoon after began to fly, finding themſelves in Old England, without knowing how they came thither. The third continued lifeleſs until ſun-ſet, when, loſing all hopes of him, he was thrown away.
I wiſh it were poſſible, from this inſtance, to invent a method of embalming drowned perſons, in ſuch a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however diſtant; for having a very ardent deſire to fee and obſerve the ſtate of America an hundred years hence, I ſhould prefer, to an ordinary death, the being immerſed in a caſk of Madeira wine, with a few friends, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the ſolar warmth of my dear country! But ſince, in all probability, we live in an age too early, and too near the infancy of ſcience, to ſee ſuch an art brought in our time to its perfection, I muſt, for the preſent, content myſelf with the treat, which you are ſo kind as to promiſe me, of the reſurrection of a fowl or a turkey-cock.