Galvanic experiments on executed murderers.

In the early 19th century, there was great interest shown in the stimulation of the human body and musculature by the application of electrical current. Much of the research was carried out on the corpses of those who had been hanged, as at this time the Murder Act of 1751 was still in force and mandated dissection after the hanging of murderers. The first known case of this in Britain was George Foster in 1803. There were at least five more reported cases of galvanic experiments between then and 1830.

George Foster.

32 year old George Foster was convicted at the Old Bailey on the 12th of January 1803 of the murders of his wife, Jane and daughter, Louisa by throwing them into the Paddington Canal and leaving them to drown in December 1802. He was hanged outside the Debtor’s Door of Newgate at 8.10 a.m. on Monday the 17th of January 1803. After hanging for the usual hour, Foster’s body was conveyed to a nearby house where Professor Giovani Aldini subjected the corpse to galvanic stimulation. The first application of electrical current was to the face, causing it to become horribly contorted and one eye to open. Electrical current was also applied to the arms and legs causing muscular contractions. It was felt that these experiments could prove useful in resuscitating those who had died by drowning of suffocation and indeed this has become a reality as we now apply electricity to restart the heart. Aldini’s uncle Luigi Galvani had been conducting experiments on animal muscles, such a frog legs in the late 18th century. The science was named after him.

Matthew Clydesdale.

Matthew Clydesdale was about 35 years old and was convicted at Glasgow Circuit Court, before Lord Gillies on the 3rd of October 1818 of the murder of a 70 year old miner, Alexander Love, at Airdie in a drunken rage on the 27th of August 1818. The jury delivered a unanimous verdict of guilty after just a few minutes deliberation. Lord Gillies then sentenced Clydesdale to be hanged by the neck until he was dead and then afterwards his body to be given to Dr. James Jeffray, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Glasgow to be dissected. He further directed that the execution was to take place on the 4th of November 1818.

Clydesdale was hanged alongside 20 year old Simon Ross who was to die for housebreaking, on Wednesday the 4th of November 1818, before a huge crowd in Jail Square in Glasgow. This would be the first hanging for a decade in Glasgow. At about 2.45 p.m. the pair were pinioned and escorted to the scaffold where after the prayers had been said and the preparations completed the drop fell at 3.05 p.m. Clydesdale struggled very little, while Ross was much convulsed. They were left on the rope for nearly an hour.

Clydesdale’s body was taken down and conveyed to the University in an open cart. He was taken to the dissection room which was crowded with spectators and where, within a few minutes it was experimented on by Dr. Andrew Ure and Dr. James Jeffray. Dr. Ure applied intermittent electrical current to the skin above the left Phrenic nerve that caused the diaphragm to contract and relax, mimicking breathing. Dr. Ure reportedly said “The success of it was truly wonderful. Full, nay, laborious breathing instantly commenced. The chest heaved and fell; the belly was protruded and again collapsed, with the retiring and collapsing diaphragm”. He then applied current to the supraorbital nerve and heel. By varying the voltage, “most horrible grimaces were exhibited”.
This proved too much for some of the audience. Here is a drawing of the scene.

Thomas Weems.

23 year old Thomas Weems was convicted of the murder of his wife, 21 year old Mary Ann, at Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire. Weems came to trial before Mr. Justice Burrough at Cambridge on the 4th of August 1819.

On Friday the 6th of August 1819. Weems was “turned off” a little after midday from a gallows set up on the gatehouse roof of Cambridge Gaol, before a large crowd. After hanging for the usual hour his body was taken down and conveyed in a cart to the Chemical Lecture Rooms of the Botanical Gardens where Professor Cumming awaited him with a powerful galvanic battery. The Cambridge Advertiser gave a very detailed account of the proceedings. Experiment 1. A small incision was made in the neck, over the par vagum and another between the 6th and 7th rib. When electricity was passed between them a shuddering movement was observed. Experiment 2. The par vagum (a nerve in the thorax) was laid bare and a wire passed under it, with another wire inserted into the diaphragm, causing stronger contractions. Experiment 3 – not recorded. Experiment 4. A wire was placed under the supra orbital nerve and another under the par vagum, with the electrical impulses causing facial contortions. Experiment 5 – not recorded. Experiment 6. A wire was passed under the ulna nerve and a second one placed in contact with the radial nerve at the wrist, causing strong contractions of the arm and hand muscles. Experiment 7. A wire was inserted into the cervical column and the second into the tibial nerve at the ankle. The passage of electricity between them evinced weak body and leg contractions. These experiments began at 1.25 p.m. and lasted for an hour.

The dissection was performed at noon the next day in the same room before a large crowd. The Cambridge Advertiser reported that “the countenances of those present betrayed a strange combination of curiosity, disgust and awe.”

Samuel Fallows.

24 year old Samuel Fallows was convicted of the murder of his pregnant girlfriend 27 year old Betty Shawcross. Fellows was tried at Chester on Friday the 11th of April 1823 before the Lord Chief Justice, Charles Warren and sentenced to be hanged and dissected on Monday the 14th of April 1823. The Chester Courant newspaper reported that the hanging took place at 1.00 p.m. and when the bolt was drawn Fallows struggled hard for two to three minutes, having been “launched into a world of spirits”.

After his body had been hanging for an hour and a quarter it was taken down and moved inside the Gaol where it was subjected to "Galvanic experiments". It was recorded that Fallow’s countenance appeared “almost natural, rather fuller than during life; this circumstance giving to the face a handsomer and more placid appearance than the criminal bore at trial.” “There was no hardness or discoloration excepting around the neck from the pressure of the rope.” Dr. Jones and Dr. Pigot from the Infirmary were present to conduct the experiments and afterwards the dissection. A voltaic battery consisting of some 150 plates was to be used. Dr. Jones made an incision above the Phrenic nerve and a second under the 7th rib by the diaphragm and when electricity was applied “a slight but unequivocal respiratory movement followed”. Further experiments were made by applying current to an arm, a leg and the face, resulting in muscular contractions.

William Devan.

William Devan was convicted at the High Court of Justiciary in Glasgow on the 14th of June 1824 for the murder of his wife, whose throat he had cut with a razor. He was hanged on Wednesday 21st July 1824 and afterwards conveyed in a cart to the anatomical theatre at Glasgow University where Dr. James Jeffray and his assistants began experimenting on it. One of the assistants held the head while another blew air into his nostrils with bellows, to endeavour to inflate the lungs, without success. Several incisions were made in various parts of the body and electricity applied. Electricity was applied to the ulna causing the arm to be raised and move for some time in a “tremulous manner”. Dr. Jeffray was less than delighted with the outcome and felt that it might have been due to the position of the noose. When the “knot” was at the back of the neck it would cause strangulation, but when it was at the side of the neck it could cause nerve damage, rendering the experiments less effective. He then terminated the session and the audience left the hall.

Thomas Mellon and Michael Byrne.

On the 9th of June, 1830 Thomas Mellon and Michael Byrne, were executed at Dublin's Newgate Prison for the murder of Thomas Hanlon, in Thomas Street Dublin on the 18th of September 1829. After their hanging the bodies were taken to the Royal College of Surgeons for dissection in the normal way. Present were some 300 medical students. While awaiting the arrival of the bodies the professor of chemistry demonstrated the galvanic process on the limbs of a dead frog. At 3.00 p.m. Mellon and Byrne’s bodies arrived and the experiments began. The first was to “excite respiration.” To this end the Phrenic nerve was laid bare and incision made to reach the diaphragm. This was not successful, the professor of anatomy concluding that the men had been dead too long. The second experiment was intended to produce contractions in the upper and lower extremities. The orbital nerve was exposed as was the posterior tibial nerve in the leg and wires attached to each, causing muscular contraction. After this, wires were attached to the ulnar nerve of the arm and the brachial flexus which caused the arm muscles to contract. Two further experiments were made. One required the exposure of the infra orbital nerve and the placing of wire on it and the lip, resulting in facial contortions. The finale experiment was made on the eyes by inserting a needle into the pupil and a wire into the supra orbital nerve, causing the pupils to contract. The professors considered this last experiment to have been of great importance in demonstrating that there were muscles in the eyeball.

The Murder Act of 1751 was repealed in 1832 by the Anatomy Act came into force on the 1st of August of that year, ending the dissection of murderers. At the same time, it was enacted in Section 16, that the bodies of those executed “shall be buried within the precincts of the prison in which they were last confined”, thus ending any further galvanic experiments.

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