464 LIGHTNING AND ELECTRICITY. LIGHTNING. COLD. HEAT. CHAPTER XLIII. EFFECTS OF ELECTRICITY.-POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES.-COLD AN OCCASIONAL CAUSE OF DEATH.-SYMPTOMS.-CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH ACCELERATE DEATH.-POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES.-EFFECT OF HEAT.-STARVATION A RARE CAUSE OF DEATH.-SYMPTOMS.— APPEARANCES AFTER DEATH.-LEGAL RELATIONS. LIGHTNING AND ELECTRICITY. DEATHS from lightning are more common than is generally supposed. Although they usually occur under circumstances in which the facts are known, yet cases may present themselves in which the marks of violence left upon the dead bodies may be suggestive of homicide. Few or no statistics of these deaths have been published in England; but in France the facts collected by Boudin show the following results. In twenty-eight years-from 1835 to 1863-2238 persons were killed by lightning. From 1854 to 1864 inclusive, 967 persons were killed, 698 being males and 269 females. In the year 1864 alone there were 87 killed, 61 males and 26 females. Of 34 persons killed by lightning in the open fields during the year 1853, 15 were struck while taking shelter under trees; and of 107 persons killed by lightning between 1841 and 1853, 21 are reported to have been killed under trees. Children appear to escape this mode of death more than adults. (Chem. News, 1865, July 7 and Dec. 8.) In the Registrar-General's reports the number of deaths from lightning in England and Wales for nine years (1869-1878) was 182, of which 147 were males. In 1880 the number was 26. These returns do not show the actual number of deaths. In Prussia registration is compulsory, and in that country during the same period 819 persons were reported to have been killed by lightning. (Brit. Assoc. Rep., Aug. 1878.) Cause of Death.-Electricity appears to act fatally by producing a violent shock to the brain and nervous system. In general there is no sense of pain; the individual falls at once into a state of unconsciousness. In a case which did not prove fatal the person, who was seen soon after the accident, was found laboring under the following symptoms: Insensibility; deep, slow, and interrupted respiration; entire relaxation of the muscular system; the pulse soft and slow; the pupils dilated, but sensible to light. (Lon. Med. Gaz, vol. xiv. p. 654.) It will be seen that these are the usual symptoms of concussion of the brain. The effect of a slight shock is that of producing stunning; and when persons who have been severely struck recover they suffer from noises in the ears. paralysis, and other symptoms of nervous disorder. (Med. Times, July 15, 1848.) Insanity has even been known to follow a stroke of lightning. (Connolly's Rep. of Hanwell, 1839.) In one case the person remained delirious for three days, and when he recovered he had completely lost his memory. (Lancet, 1839, ii. p. 582.) A boy, æt. 4, received a severe LIGHTNING APPEARANCES AFTER DEATH. 465 shock on May 11th, was seized with tetanus on the 13th, and died in four hours. (Med. Times and Gaz., 1855, i. p. 533.) In another instance, an old man who took shelter under a tree felt as if a vivid flash had struck him in the face; he did not fall, but he became almost blind. He safered for some days from frontal headache, and loss of sight supervened. (Med. Times and Gaz., 1858, ii. p. 90.) Under slight shocks the principal symptoms, which soon disappear, are headache and confusion of intellect. It may be observed of the effects of lightning generally, that death is either immediate or the individual recovers. A person may, however, linger, and die from the effects of severe lacerations or burns indirectly produced. In a case which occurred in 1838, death was thus caused indirectly by the effects of electricity. The following case of recovery ilustrates further the action of electricity. Three persons were struck by lightning at the same time. In one, a healthy man, æt. 26, the symptoms were severe. An hour and a half after the stroke he lay completely unconscious, as if in a fit of apoplexy; his pulse was below 60, full and hard; respiration snoring; pupils dilated and insensible. There were frequent twitchings of the arms and hands; the thumbs were fixed and immovable, and the jaws firmly clenched. Severe spasms then came on, so that four Pien could scarcely hold him in his bed; and his body was drawn to the left side. When these symptoms had abated, he was copiously bled; cold was applied to the head, a blister to the nape of the neck, and mustardpoultices to the legs. Stimulating injections and opium were also administered. In the course of twenty-four hours consciousness slowly returned, and the man soon completely recovered. The only external injury discoverable was a red streak, as broad as a finger, which extended from the left temple over the neck and chest: this disappeared completely in a few days. (Brit. and For. Med. Rev., Oct. 1842.) These red streaks or marks sometimes assume a remarkable disposition over the skin. (Vierteljahrsschr. für Gerichtl. Med., 1863, p. 308.) Appearances after Death-The suddenness of death is such that the body sometimes preserves the attitude in which it was struck (Med. Times and Gaz., 1860, i. p. 167), and there may be no appearances, and no physical changes in the body or dress, to indicate the mode of death. Five negroes were simultaneously prostrated by a single stroke of lightning. Three, including two children, were instantaneously killed. The only mark of injury found on one, an adult female, was a burnt spot, the size of a dollar, under the right axilla, and this woman's clothes were set on fire. (Dub. Med. Press, May 14, 1845.) Persons involved in the same flash do not all suffer equally. A man, a woman, and a boy were simultaeously struck in an open field. The man heard the thunder; he felt his hat thrust down upon his head, as if by violent pressure. The boy was confused and unsteady, but conscious. The woman was lying on the ground, speechless and moaning; she soon recovered; she had heard no thunder, and saw no lightning. (Brit. Med. Jour., 1876, i. p. 102.) Those who are severely struck do not hear the thunder. Generally speaking, there are, externally, marks of contusion and laceration about the spot where the electric current has entered or passed out: sometimes a severe lacerated wound has existed; on other occasions there has been no wound or laceration, but an extensive ecchymosis, which, according to Meyer, is most commonly found on the skin of the back. In one instance, which occurred in London in May, 1839, there were no marks of external violence; and several similar cases are quoted from American journals. (Med. Times, 1845, i. p. 82.) The clothes are in almost all cases rent 466 LIGHTNING-ITS EFFECT ON THE BODY. and torn, and partially singed, giving rise to a peculiar burnt odor,—some times even rolled up in shreds and carried to a distance. They are occasionally found partially burnt, but this is not a frequent occurrence. Metallic substances about the person present traces of fusion, and articles of steel have been observed to acquire magnetic polarity. West met with the case of a boy, æt. 18, instantly struck dead by lightning, where a knife in the pocket had strong magnetic polarity. This case further shows that which has frequently been noticed-namely, that while much violence has been done to the dress, the parts of the body covered by it have escaped injury. The deceased wore at the time of the accident a pair of strong leather boots; these were torn to shreds, probably owing to the presence of iron nails in the soles, but the feet of the deceased presented no mark of injury. An accident by lightning occurred, in which a man was instantaneously killed. A cap which the man wore had a hole through it; his hair was singed, his shoes were burst open, and his trousers torn. The woodwork of the building down which the electricity passed was merely split, and there was no mark of burning. We have examined, in several instances, the wood of trees which have been struck by lightning: in each case it has presented only the appearance of rending by mechanical force, the inner bark being torn from the alburnum. Wounds and burns are sometimes met with on the body. The wounds have commonly been lacerated punctures, like stabs produced by a blunt dagger. In the case of a person who was struck but not killed, a deep wound was produced in one thigh, almost laying bare the femoral artery. This person was struck, as many others have been, while in the act of opening an umbrella during a storm. Fractures of the bones have not been commonly observed; but in a case mentioned by Poullet, the skull was severely fractured and the bones were depressed. In 1864, Mackintosh was called to see three persons who had been struck by lightning about twenty minutes previously. They had taken shelter under a haystack, which had been set on fire by the same flash. 1. A boy, æt. 10, was then able to walk, although unable to move his legs immediately after the occurrence. All that he remembered was that he saw the stack on fire, and called to his father; he felt dizzy all over, and unable to move. His hair and clothes were not singed, and the metallic buttons on his dress showed no signs of fusion. On removing his clothes a slight odor of singeing was perceptible. He complained of pain in the lower part of the abdomen. There were several red streaks, of about a finger's breadth, running obliquely downwards and inwards on either side of the chest to the middle line in front of the abdomen; they then descended over the pubes, and were lost in the perineum. It does not appear that there was any abrasion of the skin. This boy perfectly recov ered; the red streaks disappeared gradually, and could hardly be traced four days after the injury. 2. Another boy, æt. 11, lay prostrate and unconscious, with an expression of grim terror and suffering; he frothed at the mouth, moaned piteously, and flung his legs and arms about in all directions. The breathing was deep, slow, and laborious; the heart palpitating, the pulse weak and very irregular; the pupils dilated, and insensi ble to light. There were in this case several red streaks converging from the neck and shoulders to the middle of the chest-bone, and passing over the abdomen until they were lost on the pubes. There were similar streaks radiating for a few inches from the tuber ischii on each bip in different directions, until they were lost in the skin. It appears that this boy was in a sitting posture when struck. The hair on the back of his head and neck was singed, and the peculiar odor of singeing was per LIGHTNING-ITS EFFECT ON THE BODY. 467 ceived, although his clothes showed no traces of burning, nor the metallic buttons of fusion. The boy became conscious in five hours, and rapidly recovered. The red streaks gradually disappeared, leaving marks of a aly, glistening, white appearance, which ultimately left no trace of their existence. 3. A man, æt. 46, like the two others, was in a sitting posture, and appeared to have been killed on the spot; he had not moved hand or foot. The countenance was placid, and the pupils were widely dilated. There was a large lacerated wound of the scalp at the junction of the Gecipital with the parietal bones, but without any fracture. The electric earrent appeared to have passed down each side of the head, between the Soft parts and the cranium. On the left side it had passed downwards in front to the left ear, and terminated on the side of the neck, rupturing blood vessels and muscles, and causing swelling of the parts with effusion of blood. It presented the appearance of an extensive bruise caused by mechanical violence. On the right side the current had passed down to the space above the collar-bone, causing lividity and swelling of the right ear as well as of the adjacent skin; and it terminated in a dark-blue mangled patch of skin, in which there were several free communications with the surface. The hair on the back of the head was slightly singed, and that in front of the chest was singed quite close to the skin; but the hair which covered the wound in the scalp, where the current had entered, was uninjured. The clothes were neither torn nor burnt, and the metallic battons were not fused. The clothes of all three were very wet. The hat was not examined. The left side-pocket of the trousers contained several ucifer matches and a tin tobacco-box, which were unaffected by the elec tric discharge. The right pocket contained a knife, which had acquired Strong magnetic polarity. The body was placed in a warm room, and it is worthy of remark that cadaveric rigidity came on in fourteen hours after death. (Lancet, 1864. ii. p. 118.) It is to be regretted that no postmortem examination was allowed. It is probable that the brain sustained severe injury, causing immediate death. These cases singularly present the effect of lightning in three degrees-the effect of a slight shock in No. 1, of a severe shock in No. 2, and of a fatal shock in No. 3. There was bat little bodily injury in any case, and no appearance of burning. The marks on the skin in Nos. 1 and 2 could not have been mistaken for violence, but the wound to the scalp and the injuries to the neck in No. 3 might have been ascribed to the violence of another, had not the circumstances been fully known. The clothes probably escaped burning or tearing by reason of their being wet and their readily conducting electricity. The burns occasionally found on the bodies of persons who have been struck by lightning have been hitherto ascribed to the ignition of the clothes. It appears. however, from the subjoined cases, that burns even of a severe kind may be the result of a direct agency of electricity itself upon the body. Geoghegan met with the case of a girl who had been truck by lightning; there was burning of the thigh and buttocks to the first and second degrees, but the clothes did not show any signs of combustion. In 1852, a man, æt. 23, while engaged in milking a cow in a wooden shed during a severe thunderstorm, suddenly observed a vivid flash of lightning, which killed the cow instantly and inflicted serious injuries upon himself. He was seen sixteen hours after the accident, and a Severe burn was found on his person, extending from the right hip to the shoulder, and covering a large portion of the front and side of his body. His mind was then wandering, and there were symptoms of inflammatory fever. The man was confined to his bed for seventeen days, at the end of which time the injuries had not perfectly healed. On examining his 468 EFFECTS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. dress, the right sleeve of his shirt was found burnt to shreds, but there was no material burning of any other part of the dress. The case is singular, inasmuch as it shows that the dress may be burnt without the surface of the body being simultaneously injured; and further, that a burn may be produced on the body, although the clothes covering the part may have escaped combustion. Fleming bas described the cases of eight persons who were struck by lightning, and on the bodies of some of these were marks of severe burus. The dresses were in parts much singed. These cases show, in a remarkable manner, the intense heat evolved in the instantaneous passage of the electric current through the clothes and body. The persons struck were benumbed or paralyzed in various degrees, but all ultimately recovered; the burns were so severe that some months elapsed before they were entirely healed. (Glasgow Med. Jour., Oct. 1859, p. 257.) A man was struck by lightning in 1861. Externally there was a burn upon the nape of the neck, where the metallic watchguard rested; and from the point where the current of electricity left the chain the skin was blistered in a straight line down to the feet, scorching the hair of the pubes in its course. The man's intellect was confused and his general condition was that of collapse. With the aid of stimulants he became sufficiently restored to communicate his feelings. There was paralysis of the legs, with loss of sensibility (anesthesia) and retention of urine. He was deaf, and complained of a noise in his ears like thunder; he had some difficulty in articulating, and pain in swallowing, with a peculiar metallic taste in his mouth. The anesthesia passed away in half an hour, but he did not com pletely recover the use of his limbs for four days; the bladder was paralyzed for twenty-four hours; the urine was high-colored and contained an abundance of phosphates. The bowels were confined. All these symptoms gradually disappeared, excepting slight deafness, and the man was discharged convalescent. The following complete account of the external and internal appearances found in the body of a healthy middle-aged laborer, who was killed by a stroke of lightning, has been published by Schaffer. The man was working in the fields with several other laborers, just after a thunderstorm had passed over and had apparently subsided. He was endeavoring to kindle a light with a flint and steel, when the lightning struck him. For a moment after the shock he stood still, and then his body fell heavily to the ground lifeless. The electric current had entered at the upper part of his forehead, perforating and tearing his bat at that part; it seemed then to have become divided into two currents, which passed down the sides of the body along the lower limbs and out at the feet. On the upper part of the forehead was found a soft swelling, of a dark-blue color, and about the size of the palm of a hand; the hair which covered it was uninjured. From this spot two dark-red streaks proceeded in different directions. One of these passed to the left, running over the temple in front of the left ear, down the neck to the surface of the chest, over which it passed between the left nipple and the armpit; and so made its way over the body to the left inguinal region, where it formed a large, irregular, scorchedlooking patch on the skin. From this point the dark-red streak again continued its downward course, passing over the great trochanter of the femur, then along the outer surface of the left leg to the back of the foot, where it terminated in several small dark-blue spots. The other streak, which proceeded from the ecchymosed swelling on the forehead, passed directly to the right ear, which was considerably swollen and of a dark-blue color; from the ear it ran downwards and backwards along the neck, |