CHAPTER X.
HALLELUJAH!
M. Nibor and his colleagues, after the usual compliments, requested tosee the subject. They had no time to lose, as the experiment couldhardly last less than three days. Leon hastened to conduct them to thelaboratory and to open the three boxes containing the Colonel.
They found that the patient presented quite a favorable appearance. M.Nibor took off his clothes, which tore like tinder from having been toomuch dried in Father Meiser's furnace. The body, when naked, waspronounced entirely free from blemish and in a perfectly healthycondition. No one would yet have guaranteed success, but every one wasfull of hope.
After this preliminary examination, M. Renault put his laboratory at theservice of his guests. He offered them all that he possessed, with amunificence which was not entirely free from vanity. In case theemployment of electricity should appear necessary, he had a powerfulbattery of Leyden jars and forty of Bunsen's elements, which wereentirely new. M. Nibor thanked him smilingly.
"Save your riches," said he. "With a bath-tub and caldron of boilingwater, we will have everything we need. The Colonel needs nothing buthumidity. The thing is to give him the quantity of water necessary tothe play of the organs. If you have a small room where one can introducea jet of vapor, we will be more than content."
M. Audret, the architect, had very wisely built a little bath-room nearthe laboratory, which was convenient and well lighted. The celebratedsteam engine was not far off, and its boiler had not, up to this time,answered any other purpose than that of warming the baths of M. and Mme.Renault.
The Colonel was carried into this room, with all the care necessitatedby his fragility. It was not intended to break his second ear in thehurry of moving. Leon ran to light the fire under the boiler, and M.Nibor created him Fireman, on the field of battle.
Soon a jet of tepid vapor streamed into the bath-room, creating aroundthe Colonel a humid atmosphere which was elevated by degrees, andwithout any sudden increase, to the temperature of the human body. Theseconditions of heat and humidity were maintained with the greatest carefor twenty-four hours. No one in the house went to sleep. The members ofthe Parisian Committee encamped in the laboratory. Leon kept up thefire; M. Nibor, M. Renault and M. Martout took turns in watching thethermometer. Madame Renault was making tea and coffee, and punch too.Gothon, who had taken communion in the morning, kept praying to God, inthe corner of her kitchen, that this impious miracle might not succeed.A certain excitement already prevailed throughout the town, but one didnot know whether it should be attributed to the _fete_ of the 15th, orthe famous undertaking of the seven wise men of Paris.
By two o'clock on the 16th, encouraging results were obtained. The skinand muscles had recovered nearly all their suppleness, but the jointswere still hard to bend. The collapsed condition of the walls of theabdomen and the interval between the ribs, still indicated that theviscera were far from having reabsorbed the quantity of water which theyhad previously lost with Herr Meiser. A bath was prepared and kept at atemperature of thirty-seven degrees and a half.[3] They left the Colonelin it two hours and a half, taking care to frequently pass over his heada fine sponge soaked with water.
M. Nibor removed him from the bath as soon as the skin, which was filledout sooner than the other tissues, began to assume a whitish tinge andwrinkle slightly. They kept him until the evening of the 16th in thishumid room, where they arranged an apparatus which, from time to time,occasioned a fine rain of a temperature of thirty-seven and a halfdegrees. A new bath was given in the evening. During the night, thebody was enveloped in flannel, but kept constantly in the same steamingatmosphere.
On the morning of the 17th, after a third bath of an hour and a half,the general characteristics of the figure and the proportions of thebody presented their natural aspect: one would have called it a sleepingman. Five or six curious persons were admitted to see it, among othersthe colonel of the 23d. In the presence of these witnesses, M. Nibormoved successively all the joints, and demonstrated that they hadrecovered their flexibility. He gently kneaded the limbs, trunk andabdomen. He partly opened the lips, and separated the jaws, which werequite firmly closed, and saw that the tongue had returned to itsordinary size and consistency. He also partly opened the eyelids: theeye-balls were firm and bright.
"Gentlemen," said the philosopher, "these are indications which do notdeceive; I prophesy success. In a few hours you shall witness the firstmanifestations of life."
"But," interrupted one of the bystanders, "why not immediately?"
"Because the _conjunctivae_ are still a little paler than they ought tobe. But the little veins traversing the whites of the eyes have alreadyassumed a very encouraging appearance. The blood is almost entirelyrestored. What is the blood? Red globules floating in serum, or a sortof whey. The serum in poor Fougas was dried up in his veins; the waterwhich we have gradually introduced by a slow endosmose has saturated thealbumen and fibrin of the serum, which is returned to the liquid state.The red globules which desiccation had agglutinated, had becomemotionless like ships stranded in shoal water. Now behold them afloatagain: they thicken, swell, round out their edges, detach themselvesfrom each other and prepare to circulate in their proper channels at thefirst impulse which shall be given them by the contractions of theheart."
"It remains to see," said M. Renault, "whether the heart will put itselfin motion. In a living man, the heart moves under the impulse of thebrain, transmitted by the nerves. The brain acts under the impulse ofthe heart, transmitted by the arteries. The whole forms a perfectlyexact circle, without which there is no well-being. And when neitherheart nor brain acts, as in the Colonel's case, I don't see which of thetwo can set the other in motion. You remember the scene in the '_Ecoledes femmes_,' where Arnolphe knocks at his door? The valet and the maid,Alain and Georgette, are both in the house. 'Georgette!' criesAlain.--'Well?' replies Georgette.--'Open the door down there!'--'Goyourself! Go yourself!'--'Gracious me! I shan't go!'--'I shan't goeither!'--'Open it right away!'--'Open it yourself!' And nobody opensit. I am inclined to think, Monsieur, that we are attending aperformance of this comedy. The house is the body of the Colonel;Arnolphe, who wants to get in, is the Vital Principle. The heart andbrain act the parts of Alain and Georgette. 'Open the door!' saysone.--'Open it yourself!' says the other. And the Vital Principle waitsoutside."
"Monsieur," replied Doctor Nibor smiling, "you forget the ending of thescene. Arnolphe gets angry, and cries out: 'Whichever of you two doesn'topen the door, shan't have anything to eat for four days!' And forthwithAlain hurries himself, Georgette runs and the door is opened. Now bearin mind that I speak in this way only in order to conform to your owncourse of reasoning, for the term 'Vital Principle' is at variance withthe actual assertions of science. Life will manifest itself as soon asthe brain, or the heart, or any one of the organs which have thecapacity of working spontaneously, shall have absorbed the quantity ofwater it needs. Organized matter has inherent properties which manifestthemselves without the assistance of any foreign principle, wheneverthey are surrounded by certain conditions. Why do not M. Fougas' musclescontract yet? Why does not the tissue of the brain enter into action?Because they have not yet the amount of moisture necessary to them. Inthe fountain of life there is lacking, perhaps, a pint of water. But Ishall be in no hurry to refill it: I am too much afraid of breaking it.Before giving this gallant fellow a final bath, it will be necessary toknead all his organs again, to subject his abdomen to regularcompressions, in order that the serous membranes of the stomach, chestand heart may be perfectly disagglutinated and capable of slipping oneach other. You are aware that the slightest tear in these parts, or theleast resistance, would be enough to kill our subject at the moment ofhis revival."
While speaking, he united example to precept and kept kneading the trunkof the Colonel. As the spectators had too nearly filled the bath-room,making it almost impossible to move, M. Nibor begged them to move intothe laboratory. But the laboratory became so full that it was necess
aryto leave it for the parlor: the Committee of the Biological Society, hadscarcely a corner of the table on which to draw up their account of theproceedings. The parlor even was crowded with people, the dining roomtoo, and so out to the court yard of the house. Friends, strangers,people not at all known to the family, elbowed each other and waited insilence. But the silence of a crowd is not much less noisy than therolling of the sea. Fat Doctor Martout, apparently overwhelmed withresponsibility, showed himself from time to time, and surged through thewaves of curious people like a galleon laden with news. Every one of hiswords circulated from mouth to mouth, and spread even through thestreet, where several groups of soldiers and citizens were making astir, in more senses than one. Never had the little "Rue de laFaisanderie" seen such a crowd. An astonished passer-by stopped andinquired:
"What's the matter here? Is it a funeral?"
"Quite the reverse, Sir."
"A christening, then?"
"With warm water!"
"A birth?"
"A being born again!"
An old judge of the Civil Court was recounting to a deputy the legend ofAEson of old, who was boiled in Medea's caldron.
"This is almost the same experiment," said he, "and I am inclined tothink that the poets have calumniated the sorceress of Colchis. Therecould be some fine Latin verses made appropriate to this occasion; but Ino longer possess my old skill!
'Fabula Medeam cur crimine carpit iniquo? Ecce novus surgit redivivus AEson ab undis Fortior, arma petens, juvenili pectore miles ...,'
"Redivivus is taken in the active sense; it's a license, or at least abold construction. Ah! Monsieur! there was a time when I was, even amongthose who made the most confident attempts, _the_ man for Latin verses!"
* * * * *
"Corp'ral!" said a conscript of the levy of 1859.
"What is it, Freminot?"
"Is it true that they are boiling an old soldier in a pot, and that theyare going to get him up again, Colonel's uniform and all?"
"True or not, subaltern, I'll run the risk of saying it's true."
"I fancy, with all proper deference, that they will not make much atit."
"You should know, Freminot, that nothing is impossible to yoursuperiors! You are not unaware even now, that dried vegetables, on beingboiled, recover their original and natural appearance!"
"But, Corp'ral, if one were to cook them, three days' time, they'ddissolve into broth."
"But, imbecile, why shouldn't one consider old soldiers hard to cook?"
At noon, the commisioner of police and the lieutenant of _gens-d'armes_made way through the crowd and entered the house. These gentlemenhastened to declare to M. Renault that their visit had nothing of anofficial character, but that they had come merely from curiosity. In thecorridor, they met the Sub-prefect, the Mayor and Gothon, who waslamenting in loud tones that she should see the government lend its handto such sorceries.
About one o'clock, M. Nibor caused a new and prolonged bath to be giventhe Colonel, on coming out of which, the body was subjected to akneading harder and more complete than before.
"Now," said the Doctor, "we can carry M. Fougas into the laboratory, inorder to give his resuscitation all the publicity desirable. But it willbe well to dress him, and his uniform is in tatters."
"I think," answered good M. Renault, "that the Colonel is about my size;so I can lend him some of my clothes. Heaven grant that he may usethem! But, between us, I don't hope for it."
Gothon brought in, grumbling, all that was necessary to dress anentirely naked man. But her bad humor did not hold out before the beautyof the Colonel:
"Poor gentleman!" she exclaimed, "he is young, fresh and fair as alittle chicken. If he doesn't revive, it will be a great pity!"
There were about forty people in the laboratory when Fougas was carriedthither. M. Nibor, assisted by M. Martout, placed him on a sofa, andbegged a few moments of attentive silence. During these proceedings,Mme. Renault sent to inquire if she could come in. She was admitted.
"Madame and gentlemen," said Dr. Nibor, "life will manifest itself in afew minutes. It is possible that the muscles will act first, and thattheir action may be convulsive, on account of not yet being regulated bythe influence of the nervous system. I ought to apprise you of thisfact, in order that you may not be frightened if such a thingtranspires. Madame, being a mother, ought to be less astonished at itthan any one else; she has experienced, at the fourth month ofpregnancy, the effect of those irregular movements which will, possibly,soon be presented to us on a larger scale. I am quite hopeful, however,that the first spontaneous contractions will take place in the fibres ofthe heart. Such is the case in the embryo, where the rhythmic movementsof the heart, precede the nervous functions."
He again began making systematic compressions of the lower part of thechest, rubbing the skin with his hands, half opening the eyelids,examining the pulse, and auscultating the region of the heart.
The attention of the spectators was diverted an instant by a hubbuboutside. A battalion of the 23d was passing, with music at the head,through the Rue de la Faisanderie. While the Sax-horns were shaking thewindows, a sudden flash mantled on the cheeks of the Colonel. His eyes,which had stood half open, lit up with a brighter sparkle. At the sameinstant, Doctor Nibor, who had his ear applied to the chest, cried:
"I hear the beatings of the heart!"
Scarcely had he spoken, when the chest rose with a violent inspiration,the limbs contracted, the body straightened up, and out came a cry:"_Vive l'Empereur_."
But as if so great an effort had overtasked his strength, Colonel Fougasfell back on the sofa, murmuring in a subdued voice:
"Where am I? Waiter! Bring me a newspaper!"