Cause of death help needed, please.

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Screenshot attached of my great-great-great grandfather's cause of death. I can read "Failure of" and "Paralysis 12 hours" but can't work out the other two words - "vital power" perhaps (which would seem to me to be an odd diagnosis)? All help gratefully received!

Thanks,
           Peter

[avm228]

Failure of Vital Power.

Not one I have seen before. What’s the date, and how old was he?

[Girl Guide]

I agree with avm.  If you think about it the heart beating is vital to life.  If the heart doesn't beat then you are dead.

It may be an old term for heart failure or heart attack.

[Palladium]

...paralysis...
...12 hours...

[AngelaC]

I googled "vital power" and, although it seems to be a fairly unusual expression, it does exist, often in the expression "preagonal vital power" which I think my medic husband would now refer to as "gradual shutdown of vital organs".
Hope this helps.

[artifis]

Could it mean a stroke, a massive one, that caused total loss of speech and motor functions hence the paralysis for 12 hours?

[Girl Guide]

Strokes are pretty unpleasant things and must be frightening to go through.

If it is bad enough I imagine it would cause paralysis of the limbs and an inability to communicate.  Terrible really if your mind is fine but your body isn't and you want to communicate but can't.

[Gadget]

Could it mean a stroke, a massive one, that caused total loss of speech and motor functions hence the paralysis for 12 hours?

I agree. It sounds like a massive one 

[bbart]

I tossed "Failure Of Vital Power" into an old newspaper search, and was surprised at the number of hits came up in the early to later 1800's.  After reading many of the articles, I came away with the impression that it was used when the heart stopped, but the heart was not the (primary) problem.

Here's just a few snippets to help explain, including one example of the many many ads that ran for years, to buy some concoction to prevent/cure the Failure of Vital Power: