Oh, yeah, I did know that about Dr. Guillontin and... well. Can you imagine how much worse if the Terror had been carried out via axe :( also I spent way too long reading about evidence for and against consciousness after guillotining
Wow, poor Franz Schmidt :( I'm glad he was eventually successful! (Argh, the Margrave couldn't have waited until the actual executioner got well??)
also I spent way too long reading about evidence for and against consciousness after guillotining
I have also read these debates, especially the ones focusing on Lavoisier!
About Dr. Guillotin, though, Wikipedia has always told me that he didn't invent the guillotine, that that was a popular myth. (French wiki agrees.)
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution than existing methods. Although he did not invent the guillotine and opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it.
Lolsob at this, though:
In Paris, Guillotin became a well-known physician. By 1775, he was concerned with issues of torture and death. That year, he wrote a memo proposing that criminals be used as subjects in medical experiments. Although he recognised that as cruel, he considered it preferable to being put to death.
The physician thinks medical experiments are less cruel than the death penalty. No conflict of interest here! I mean, it depends on the medical experiment, but I'm thinking of Maupertuis and his interest in vivisection.
Also interesting, Wikipedia says it wasn't just the feelings of the executed criminal Dr. Guillotin was thinking of, but the social effects as well:
Guillotin was opposed to the death penalty, and hoped that a more humane and less painful method of execution would be the first step towards total abolition. He also hoped that, as the decapitation machine would kill quickly without prolonged suffering, this would reduce the size and enthusiasm of crowds that often witnessed executions.
Well, it didn't stop the Reign of Terror, but there were also other social factors at work there.
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Re: Jacobites and treason
also I spent way too long reading about evidence for and against consciousness after guillotiningWow, poor Franz Schmidt :( I'm glad he was eventually successful! (Argh, the Margrave couldn't have waited until the actual executioner got well??)
Guillotine
I have also read these debates, especially the ones focusing on Lavoisier!
About Dr. Guillotin, though, Wikipedia has always told me that he didn't invent the guillotine, that that was a popular myth. (French wiki agrees.)
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution than existing methods. Although he did not invent the guillotine and opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it.
Lolsob at this, though:
In Paris, Guillotin became a well-known physician. By 1775, he was concerned with issues of torture and death. That year, he wrote a memo proposing that criminals be used as subjects in medical experiments. Although he recognised that as cruel, he considered it preferable to being put to death.
The physician thinks medical experiments are less cruel than the death penalty. No conflict of interest here! I mean, it depends on the medical experiment, but I'm thinking of Maupertuis and his interest in vivisection.
Also interesting, Wikipedia says it wasn't just the feelings of the executed criminal Dr. Guillotin was thinking of, but the social effects as well:
Guillotin was opposed to the death penalty, and hoped that a more humane and less painful method of execution would be the first step towards total abolition. He also hoped that, as the decapitation machine would kill quickly without prolonged suffering, this would reduce the size and enthusiasm of crowds that often witnessed executions.
Well, it didn't stop the Reign of Terror, but there were also other social factors at work there.