Guillotine Death

[Bonzo 2000]

It would appear that death at the guillotine would be instantaneous, with brain function being severed from the body's systems as soon as the blade made its fatal chop.  However, we have been having a fairly macabre debate in the office about this - while no-one will be able to speak from direct experience (I assume), would the residual levels of oxygen in the blood within the head allow brain function to continue for even a few seconds?  While the unfortunate victim would undoubtedly lose all contact and feeling with his body, what about the head functions?  For the first few seconds, would he see the inside of the basket that his head drops into, or hear the cheers and gasps of the watching crowd?  In short, how long can the brain function after the blood supply is lost?

[Clanad]

Obviously, no one knows for sure, but there are several recorded cases, during the French Revolution particularly, of eyes blinking and lips moving for a few seconds after decapitation.  This could be involuntary reflexes of course... but who knows for sure?

Check for other opinions here:

http://www.wintersteel.com/Life_Without_Brain.html

[KebabMeister]

I've discussed this in the past as well.  I think we found a few places on the web stating that a head could live for 5 - 15 seconds after decapitation and then finally dyinig of 'shock'!

I would expect a head to live several seconds because there is still blood and oxygen in the brain.  Hmm... any volunteers? ;)

[landie]

When I was a child we kept chickens. One day the Cockerel pecked at my baby sister and my mother was so angry that she chopped its head off with one clean cut.

It ran around the garden headless for at least a minute.

[Quizmonster]

There have been - mostly rather dubious - reports that the eyes and mouth of a lopped-off head - as in French guillotine executions - do show signs of movement.  The most credible was by a Doctor Beaurieux who attended an execution in 1905.  He mentioned lip and eyelid motion and - when he shouted the man's name twice - he claims the eyes opened and actually focussed on him both times! He describes the eyes as "undeniably living" and believes the process lasted about 30 seconds.
Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was supposedly prepared to experiment to the end...and beyond.  Before his execution in 1794, it is claimed that he said that he would try to communicate by blinking  immediately after decapitation.  The story goes that his head did so several times.  Marie Antoinette, too - or it could have been the murderess, Charlotte Corday, depending on whose story you listen to - is said to have blushed angrily when her severed head was slapped.  (With no blood-flow?)
In a British context, while Earl Waltheof's neck was already on the block in 1076, he was reciting �The Lord's Prayer'. The headman's axe descended before he had quite finished and the story is that the words: "But deliver us from evil.  Amen" were reportedly spoken by the severed head.  (In the absence of airflow and a connected voice-box etc, I'm not sure how that supposedly worked...but it's a good story!)
Although all of these tales are almost certainly apocryphal, it has been calculated that the human brain has enough stored oxygen to function for about seven seconds after the head is severed.  Presumably, therefore, some form of �consciousness' could conceivably remain for some period of time.

[depressedmgl]

if you have ever fainted, you will know that unconciousness is rapid.  Personally I think it would be instanaous.  Now hanging......?

[MargeB]

Decapitation quite different from fainting...we're talking about having enough oxygen in your blood to provide fuel for the neural correlates of consciousness, and this goes VERY fast at decapitation. You would probably die more quickly from the Bigley method (sorry) than by the guillotine, it is hypothesized. Since the heart is still trying to pump, once you cut the jugular a huge amount of air is drawn into the heart, which accelerates the loss of oxygen to the brain.

[Dom Tuk]

Please dont do this at home but i recall experiments conducted when i was very young that cutting an ants head from its torso (using a sharp blade)  results in the antennae twitching for a minute or so after the decapitation. There was very little to do in Zambia during the school hoildays.