Editing Guillotine (section)

== Controversy ==
[[File:Execution of Languille in 1905.jpg|thumb|A retouched photo of the execution of Languille in 1905 with foreground figures painted in over the original photo]]
Ever since the guillotine's first use, there has been debate as to whether or not the guillotine provided as swift and painless a death as Guillotin had hoped. With previous methods of execution that were intended to be painful, few expressed concern about the level of suffering that they inflicted. However, because the guillotine was invented specifically to be more humane, the issue of whether or not the condemned experiences pain has been thoroughly examined and remains a controversial topic. Certain eyewitness accounts of guillotine executions suggest anecdotally that awareness may persist momentarily after decapitation, although there is no scientific consensus on the matter.

=== Living heads ===
{{Further|Decapitation#Physiology of death by decapitation}}
Gabriel Beaurieux, a physician who observed the head of executed prisoner Henri Languille, wrote on 28 June 1905:

{{quote|Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck ...

I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased. [...] It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: "Languille!" I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions{{snd}}I insist advisedly on this peculiarity{{snd}}but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts.

Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with the sort of vague dull look without any expression, that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. After several seconds, the eyelids closed again [...].

It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. Then there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement{{snd}}and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead.<ref>{{cite web |title=Can the head survive? |work= guillotine.dk |url=http://www.guillotine.dk/pages/30sek.html |access-date=17 October 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125022453/http://www.guillotine.dk/Pages/30sek.html |archive-date=25 January 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Clinical Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZc1AQAAMAAJ|year=1898|publisher=Medical Publishing Company|page=436}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}