1 V r-l JUS i !?llY OP THE SIKHS,
2 / *7 .pi. ■ ■:...
3 ■ ■' frf
4 ^|f;a time, stfll there is a limit to this, beyond which
5 life is extinct, and no power with which we are
6 acquainted can recall it. Something approaching
7 Has state is the phenomenon of sleep,, but here the
8 circulation. and respiration continue, as well as the
9 secretory functions; the sensorktm alone, with the
10 muscles of voluntary .motion, being at rest. My
11 own opinion is, that the mar: enjoyed the functions
12 of respiration, circulation, and assimilation in a
13 degree compatible with the existence of life, and
14 that,; by training, he had acquired the means of re¬
15 taining the air in the lungs fox* some minutes,
16 . during the period of his being shut up, and when
17 he was again exposed. How he managed to get a
18 supply of food and drink, I. by no means wish
19 to hazard a guess; these affairs were no doubt ma¬
20 naged bv his accomplices, of whom he appeared to
21 have a considerable number. It is said, that pre¬
22 vious to his undergoing the confinement, this man
23 gradually overcomes the power of digestion and
24 assimilation, so that milk taken into the stomach
25 passed out without the least change! He next
26 forces all the breath in his body to the brain, which
27 is described as giving the crown oi the head the
28 feeling of a hot coal. The lungs then collapse,
29 and the heart, deprived of its usual stimulus, to use
30 a homely phrase, “ shuts up shop. ” Having thus
31 disposed of digestion, assimilation, respiration, and
32 circulation, all the passages of the body are closed ;
33 his legs and thighs crossed, and his arms pressed to
34 his sides; in short, he presents the same appear-