Post by Admin on Nov 14, 2021 11:52:22 GMT -7
www.quora.com/Is-death-by-guillotine-painless
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Profile photo for Adelbert Byttebier
Adelbert Byttebier
, Has been near-death twice, which is enough
Updated Dec 22, 2018 · Upvoted by
Ovie Okeh
, Manager at Life and Living (1999-present)
No, according to French medical studies on guillotine victims.
Since Charlotte Corday - the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat - was guillotined in 1793 there has been much debate about this in France. Eyewitnesses had reported her face took on an angry look when the executioner picked up her head and slapped her on the face. This was far from being a scientific observation but it opened a debate that went on till the beginning of the 20th century.
Then a French doctor, Beaurieux, was permitted to make an investigation of the severed head of a man called Languille, immediately after his decapitation. According to the article on guillotine on Wikipedia his report reads as follows:
“Here is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the decapitated man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about 4 to 6 seconds. I waited several seconds longer. The spasmodic movements ceased. The face relaxed, the lids half-closed in the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible, exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day… It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: ‘Languille!’ I then saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contraction - I insist advisedly on this peculiarity - but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in every day life with people awakened or torn from their thoughts. Next, Languille's eyes very definitely fixed on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not then dealing with a vague dull look, without any expression that can be observed in any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniable living eyes that looked at me”.
By 1956 further research had proved - according to governmental advisors Drs Piedelievre and Fournier - that “ death by decapitation is not instantaneous…every vital element survives..it is a savage vivisection followed by a premature burial”
In 1977 the murderer Hamida Djandoubi was the last one to die by the guillotine in France - in september 1981 France finally abolished capital punishment. The last public use of the guillotine was in 1939, a picture of it below:
As the victims couldn’t speak it can’t be said for certain how much pain they suffered but it looks as if they - at least in some cases - stayed conscious for quite a while. Personal experience with painful accidents is that the first few minutes I didn’t feel any pain at all ( even when afterwards the pain was excruciating ) so it’s possible the same was true with a guillotine decapitation but there is an important difference with an accident: those accidents came unexpected. While the man or woman with his/her head on the block is very much aware what awaits him/her. When for instance I had a root canal treatment at the dentist I knew what was coming and the pain was there, immediately.
So I tend to think at least some of them felt a terrible pain for a prolonged time…
Murdering criminals is in any case a barbarous sentence but it looks like the guillotine wasn’t as humane as the inventor intended…
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Is death by guillotine painless?
100+ Answers
Profile photo for Adelbert Byttebier
Adelbert Byttebier
, Has been near-death twice, which is enough
Updated Dec 22, 2018 · Upvoted by
Ovie Okeh
, Manager at Life and Living (1999-present)
No, according to French medical studies on guillotine victims.
Since Charlotte Corday - the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat - was guillotined in 1793 there has been much debate about this in France. Eyewitnesses had reported her face took on an angry look when the executioner picked up her head and slapped her on the face. This was far from being a scientific observation but it opened a debate that went on till the beginning of the 20th century.
Then a French doctor, Beaurieux, was permitted to make an investigation of the severed head of a man called Languille, immediately after his decapitation. According to the article on guillotine on Wikipedia his report reads as follows:
“Here is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the decapitated man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about 4 to 6 seconds. I waited several seconds longer. The spasmodic movements ceased. The face relaxed, the lids half-closed in the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible, exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day… It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: ‘Languille!’ I then saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contraction - I insist advisedly on this peculiarity - but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in every day life with people awakened or torn from their thoughts. Next, Languille's eyes very definitely fixed on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not then dealing with a vague dull look, without any expression that can be observed in any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniable living eyes that looked at me”.
By 1956 further research had proved - according to governmental advisors Drs Piedelievre and Fournier - that “ death by decapitation is not instantaneous…every vital element survives..it is a savage vivisection followed by a premature burial”
In 1977 the murderer Hamida Djandoubi was the last one to die by the guillotine in France - in september 1981 France finally abolished capital punishment. The last public use of the guillotine was in 1939, a picture of it below:
As the victims couldn’t speak it can’t be said for certain how much pain they suffered but it looks as if they - at least in some cases - stayed conscious for quite a while. Personal experience with painful accidents is that the first few minutes I didn’t feel any pain at all ( even when afterwards the pain was excruciating ) so it’s possible the same was true with a guillotine decapitation but there is an important difference with an accident: those accidents came unexpected. While the man or woman with his/her head on the block is very much aware what awaits him/her. When for instance I had a root canal treatment at the dentist I knew what was coming and the pain was there, immediately.
So I tend to think at least some of them felt a terrible pain for a prolonged time…
Murdering criminals is in any case a barbarous sentence but it looks like the guillotine wasn’t as humane as the inventor intended…
589.3K viewsView 8,104 upvotes
View 59 shares