An interesting, physiological question arose, in 1796, whether death, by decollation, under the guillotine, were instantaneous or not. Men of science and talent, and among them Dr. Sue, and a number of German physicians, maintained, that, in the brain, after decapitation, there was a certain degree--_un reste_--of thought, and, in the nerves, a measure of sensibility. An opposite opinion seems to have prevailed. The controversy, which was extremely interesting, acquired additional interest and activity, from an incident, which occurred, on the scaffold, immediately after the execution of Marie Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont--commonly known, under the imperishable name of _Charlotte Corday_. A brute, François Le Gros, one of the assistant executioners, held up the beautiful and bleeding head, and slapped the cheek with his hand. A blush was instantly visible to the spectators. In connection with the physiological question, to which I have referred, a careful inquiry was instituted, and it was proved, very satisfactorily, that the color--the blush--appeared on _both_ cheeks, after the blow was given. Dr. Sue's account of this matter runs thus--"The countenance of Charlotte Corday expressed the most unequivocal marks of indignation. Let us look back to the facts--the executioner held the head, suspended in one hand; the face was then pale, but had no sooner received the slap, which the sanguinary wretch inflicted, than both cheeks visibly reddened. Every spectator was struck, by the change of color, and with loud murmurs cried out for vengeance, on this cowardly and atrocious barbarity. It can not be said, that the redness was caused by the blow--for we all know, that no blows will recall anything like color to the cheeks of a corpse; besides this blow was given on one cheek, and the other equally reddened." _Sue; Opinion sur le supplice de la guillotine, p. 9._