CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.
It is universally admitted that nothing is less certain than life; and if the reader will weigh the facts, which it has been the authors’ intention to understate rather than overstate, he will rightly conclude that nothing is more uncertain than the signs which are ordinarily accepted as indicating death. It would have been easy to fill a much larger volume than this with reports of authentic cases of premature burial, and narrow escapes from such terrible mischances, and with more detailed results of the authors’ researches on the subject in various parts of Europe and America, as well as in the East. The cases adduced to illustrate the text are, however, presented as types of hundreds of others obtainable from equally reputable sources, and to be found in the works of various trustworthy authorities, the titles of which can be seen in the Bibliography at the end of this volume.
The London Review for July, 1791, p. 40, referring to “An Essay on Vital Suspension: Being an Attempt to Investigate and Ascertain those Diseases in which the Principles of Life are Apparently Extinguished,” by a Medical Practitioner—observes, that this is one of many publications “written by physicians and surgeons, versed in medical science, and well skilled in anatomy, to demonstrate, beyond a possibility of contradiction, that there are many cases in which the human body has the appearance of death, and preserves it for a considerable time, without the reality; the vital principle being still unsubdued, and a restoration of all its powers and functions practicable by the administration, in due time, of proper means.” The author of the pamphlet under review says, “It is a proof of the temerity and imbecility of human judgment, that we have too many instances on record, wherein even the most skilful physicians have erred in the decisions they have pronounced respecting the extinction of life.”
IMBECILITY OF HUMAN JUDGMENT.
Unfortunately, we appear to be no nearer the prevention of these terrible mistakes now than we were when the reviewer called attention to them a century ago. The imbecility of human judgment complained of exists now in an unmitigated degree. The appearance of death is generally taken for its reality: and the great mass of the inhabitants of this planet are hurried to their graves without (except in a comparatively few cases of drowning or poisoning) the application of any serious efforts at restoration, and without waiting for unequivocal signs of dissolution.
Whether the risks of being buried alive are as great as those declared by some of the authorities quoted in this volume, must be left to the reader to determine for himself; but that they are considerable there appears little room for doubt by those who have taken the trouble to inquire into the facts. How often is the reader shocked by reading narratives in his daily or weekly newspaper of persons either buried alive, or of those in a state of suspended animation, but diagnosed and duly certificated by the attending doctor as dead, who have returned to consciousness during the funeral rites or at the grave itself.
The Lancet has borne frequent testimony to these disasters, some of which are quoted in this volume; and, just as we are writing the closing chapter, the leading medical journal, in its issue of September 12, 1896, p. 785, records the following from its Cork correspondent as having occurred at Little Island, Ireland, which, the writer says, is thoroughly vouched for:—
“A child of four years of age contracted (typhoid) fever, and to all ordinary appearances died. The time of the funeral was appointed, and friends were actually on their way to attend it. When the supposed corpse was about to be removed from the bed to the coffin, signs of animation were exhibited. The services of the medical man were again requisitioned, and the child, opportunely rescued from such a terrible death, is now progressing satisfactorily.”
Amongst the headings of paragraphs taken from recent papers lying before me are the following:—“Buried Alive,” “A Gruesome Narrative,” “Restored to Life in a Mortuary,” “Premature Burial,” “The Dead Alive,” “Buried Alive,” “Sounds from Another Coffin,” “Mistaken for Dead,” “A Lady Nearly Buried Alive,” “Revivification After Burial,” “A Woman’s Awful Experience,” “Bolt Upright in His Coffin,” “Almost Buried while Alive,” “A Woman Buried Alive,” “The Corpse Sat Up,” “Alive in Her Coffin,” “Seemed to Rise from Death,” “Escaped Burial Alive,” “Revival at a Wake,” “Snatched from Death at the Graveside,” “Laid Out, but not Dead,” “Alive in His Grave,” “Interment before Death,” “Came to Life in the Coffin,” “Corpse Seems to Live,” “The Corpse Moved,” etc.
According to the “London Manual and Municipal Year Book,” 1896-97, there are over four hundred public authorities at work in governing London, who spend over twelve million pounds a year, and from other sources it is said that seven millions a year are collected in the Metropolis for charitable purposes, and yet there are no officials, associations, or insurance companies to safeguard the people either in this wealthy Metropolis or in any part of the United Kingdom against one of the most terrible physical calamities that can overtake any member of the human family.
EXPECTATIONS OF LIFE.
The Registrar-General’s Decennial Supplement for 1881-90, published this year (1896), includes a “Life Table” furnishing the expectations of life in England and Wales. It appears that the death-rate has fallen from 21.3 in the decade ending 1880 to 19.0 per thousand living in that ending 1890. The expectation of life at birth, according to the actuary’s standard in the decade 1871-80, was 41.3 years for males, and 44.6 years for females. This has been increased, as shown in the “Life Table” 1881-90, to 43.6 for males, and 47.2 for females, mainly through sanitary amelioration. A perceptible increase, the author believes, could be shown if steps were taken to restore still-born children, who constitute about five per cent. of births, and if the same trouble were adopted to restore the apparently dead from other diseases (which are sometimes only crises of repose after wasting disease) as is generally taken with respect to those accidentally poisoned or drowned. Besides reducing the mortality and increasing the expectation of life, such a reform would greatly diminish the appalling suffering of those who, through our apathy and ignorance, are, under our present system of laissez faire, consigned to precipitate interment, and would bring tranquillity of mind to those who are haunted all their lives through fear of such a catastrophe. Why we should limit our efforts at restoration of those apparently dead to a few cases has never been shown, and is surely a serious oversight, which should be remedied without delay.
Dr. Hartmann, in “Premature Burial,” observes—“As by cleaning a dusty watch the watchmaker causes the hindrances to be removed which prevented the energy stored up in the watch from setting the clockwork in motion, so, in cases of apparent death from catalepsy, asphyxia, syncope, and other diseases causing obstacles to the manifestation of the life-energy in the body, these obstacles may be removed by appropriate means, such as are known to many intelligent physicians, and the energy of life being latent in the physical form may be enabled to manifest itself again when the harmony of the organism has been sufficiently restored, even after the heart has entirely ceased to beat.”
Dr. A. Fothergill says:—“Since no one, from prince to peasant, can at all times be secure from these dreadful disasters, which suddenly suspend vital action; and since medical practitioners themselves are not exempt, it surely becomes them to use every exertion to improve the art of restoring animation. May each progressive step in this interesting path of science tend to that great object! and may every laudable attempt undertaken with that benevolent view enable us with more certainty to preserve life and to diminish the sum of human infelicity!”
It is regrettable that medical practitioners, neither in this nor in any of the Continental states, except, possibly, a few in Germany, have been trained to distinguish apparent from real death; and when a case of death-trance occurs, they certify to actual death, and the unfortunate person is interred in a strong coffin, which effectually conceals the tragedy following resuscitation. Moreover, the ordinary practitioner, both in England and the United States, considers himself exonerated from blame when he thus follows the traditions and practice of the heads of his profession. Personally, he has neither the time, opportunity, or inclination to study the abnormal phenomena of trance, catalepsy, or hypnotisation, and thus the evil of live sepulture is perpetuated from generation to generation.
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS.
(1) An examination of both the historical and modern cases of trance, catalepsy, and other death-counterfeits shows that nothing is more uncertain than the so-called signs of death, and that in all countries and in all ages many persons supposed by their attendant physicians and relations to be dead have revived, while the cases are as numerous and the danger as great at the present day as at any previous period.
(2) That the risk of premature burial is especially serious in France, in Spain and Portugal, in the west of Ireland, in both European and Asiatic Turkey, and in India; also amongst the Jews, where both the Jewish law and ancient customs enjoin burial within a few hours of death, and for similar reasons in all Oriental countries; and in the Southern States of North America.
(3) That the various signs which are supposed to indicate death, such as the cessation of respiration and of cardiac action, a pale, waxy and death-like appearance, the stiffening of the limbs, or rigor mortis, insensibility to cutaneous excitation, the departure of heat from the body, are singly and collectively illusory; the only safe and infallible test of dissolution being the manifestation of putrefaction in the abdomen.
(4) That medical death-certificates have been shown by various witnesses before the Select Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry of 1893-94 to be often misleading as to the cause of death, and inconclusive as to the fact of death. Any compulsory extension of the death-certification system in the present imperfect state of medical knowledge would only partially meet the necessities of the case, and might have the effect of crystallising a defective system into perfunctory routine. A certain safeguard would, however, be provided if the law made it binding on medical practitioners to set forth on the death-certificate a precise statement of indications showing that dissolution has actually occurred.
(5) That the only safe and effective method of reform is the establishment of appropriately designed waiting mortuaries, such as are provided at Munich, Weimar, Stuttgart, and other German cities, with qualified attendants and appliances for resuscitation, and where doubtful cases of death (and all are doubtful in which decomposition has not clearly manifested itself) can be deposited until the fact of death is unequivocally established.
(6) That premature burial in civilised countries is mainly possible owing to the fact that instruction in the phenomena of trance, catalepsy, syncope, and other forms of suspended animation is not systematic in the medical schools in any country, and the means of prevention are therefore practically unknown. This omission should be immediately remedied by the inclusion of the subject at the appropriate place in the medical curriculum, and in the examination for degrees.
(7) That, inasmuch as a radical change in the methods of treating the dead or supposed dead is extremely urgent, and legislation with an overworked Parliament in England and apathetic State Legislatures in America will probably be delayed, the authors recommend, as a preliminary measure of protection, the formation of associations for the prevention of premature burial amongst their members, as in some cities in France, Austria, and the United States, or the alternative plan of engrafting such an obligation of prevention upon existing associations, clubs, and insurance companies established for other purposes.
If the foregoing conclusions are established, the need for immediate action is urgent and imperative, and the prompt intervention of Parliament should be at once invoked. May we hope for the cordial co-operation of all classes and of all sections on a question in which the whole community have a deep and vital interest, and on which procrastination will certainly be fatal to some of its members. It is not an academic question, but one of the gravest practical character, the earnest consideration and treatment of which cannot be neglected with impunity.
APPENDICES.
[APPENDIX A.]
HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION FROM APPARENT DEATH.
From the time of Kornmann, Terilli, and Zacchia (see “Bibliography,” seventeenth century), certain notable instances, from old authors, of restoration from apparent death have been cited, with a good deal of uniformity, in essays or theses on this subject. One of the most convenient (to English readers) of these compilations is to be found in an anonymous essay, “The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death,” Dublin, 1748 (printed by George Faulkner), from which the following extracts are taken verbatim:—
Plutarch informs us that a certain person fell from an eminence, but did not show the least appearance of any wound, for, three days after, he suddenly resumed his strength, and returned to life as his friends were conveying him to the grave.
Asclepiades, a celebrated physician, on his return from his country seat, met a large company conveying a corpse to the grave. A principle of curiosity induced him to ask the name of the deceased person, but grief and sorrow reigned so universally that no one returned him answer; upon which, approaching the corpse, he found the whole of it rubbed over with perfumes, and the mouth moistened with precious balm, according to the custom of the Greeks; then carefully feeling every part, and discovering latent signs of life, he forthwith affirmed that the person was not dead, and the person was saved.—Celsus ii., 6, “De re Medica.”
In the tenth book of Plato’s Republic is related the story of one Er, an Armenian, who was slain in battle. Ten days after, when the surviving soldiers came with a view to inter the dead, they found all the bodies corrupted except his; for which reason they conveyed him to his own house in order to inter him in the usual manner. But two days after, to the great surprise of all present, he returned to life when laid on the funeral pile. Quenstedt remarks upon this case, which he took from Kornmann’s treatise “De Miraculis Mortuorum,” “That the soul sometimes remains in the body when the senses are so fettered, and, as it were, locked up, that it is hard to determine whether a person is dead or alive.” Pliny in his “Natural History,” book vii., chap. 52, which treats of those who have returned to life when they were about to be laid in the grave, tells us that Acilius Aviola, a man of so considerable distinction that he had formerly been honoured with the consulship, returned to life when he was upon the funeral pile; but, as he could not be rescued from the violence of the flames, he was burnt alive. The like misfortune also happened to Lucius Lamia, who had been praetor. These two shocking accidents are also related by Valerius Maximus. Celius Tubero had a happier fate than his two fellow-citizens, since, according to Pliny, he discovered the signs of life before it was too late. His state, however, was far from eligible, since, being laid on the funeral pile, he stood a fair chance of being exposed to the like misfortune. Pliny, from the testimony of Varro, adds that when a distribution of land was making at Capua, a certain man, when carried a considerable way from his own house in order to be interred, returned home on foot. The like surprising accident also happened at Aquinum. The last instance of this nature related by the author occurred at Rome, and Pliny must, no doubt, have been intimately acquainted with all its most minute circumstances, since the person was one Cerfidius, the husband of his mother’s sister, who returned to life after an agreement had been made for his funeral with the undertaker, who was probably much disappointed when he found him alive and in good health.
These examples drawn from Roman history greatly contribute to establish the uncertainty of the signs of death, and ought to render us very cautious with respect to interments.
Greece and Italy are not the only theatres in which such tragical events have been acted, since other countries of Europe also furnish us with instances of a like nature. Thus, Maximilian Misson, in his “Voyage Through Italy,” tome i, letter 5, tells us—
“That the number of persons who have been interred as dead, when they were really alive, is very great in comparison with those who have been happily rescued from their graves; for, in the town of Cologne, Archbishop Geron—according to Albertus Krantzïus—was interred alive, and died for want of a seasonable releasement.”
It is also certain that in the same town the like misfortune happened to Johannes Duns Scotus, who in his grave tore his hands and wounded his head. Misson also relates the following:—
“Some years ago the wife of one, Mr. Mervache, a goldsmith of Poictiers, being buried with some rings on her fingers, as she had desired when dying, a poor man of the neighbourhood, being apprised of that circumstance, next night opened the grave in order to make himself master of the rings, but as he could not pull them off without some violence, he in the attempt waked the woman, who spoke distinctly, and complained of the injury done her. Upon this, the robber made his escape. The woman, now roused from an apoplectic fit, rose from her coffin, returned to her own house, and in a few days recovered a perfect state of health.”
What induced Misson to relate these histories was a certain piece of painting preserved in the Church of the Holy Apostles at Cologne, in order to keep up the memory of a certain accident, which that traveller relates in the following manner:—
“In the year 1571, the wife of one of the magistrates of Cologne being interred with a valuable ring on one of her fingers, the grave-digger next night opened the grave in order to take it off, but we may readily suppose that he was in no small consternation when the supposed dead body squeezed his hand, and laid fast hold of him, in order to get out of her coffin. The thief, however, disengaging himself, made his escape with all expedition; and the lady, disentangling herself in the best manner she could, went home and knocked at her own door, where, after shivering in her shroud, after some delay she was admitted by the terror-stricken servants; and, being warmed and treated in a proper manner, completely recovered.”
Simon Goubart, in his admirable and memorable histories, printed at Geneva in 1628, relates the following accident:—“A lady, whose name was Reichmuth Adoloh, was supposed to fall a victim to a pestilence, which raged with such impetuous fury as to cut off most of the inhabitants of Cologne. Soon after, however, she not only recovered her health, but also brought into the world three sons, who, in process of time, were advanced to livings in the Church.”
“The town of Dijon, in Burgundy, was, in the year 1558, afflicted with a violent plague, which cut off the inhabitants so fast that there was not time for each dead person to have a separate grave; for which reason large pits were made and filled with as many bodies as they could contain. In this deplorable conjuncture, Mrs. Nicole Tentillet shared the common fate, and after labouring under the disorder for some days, fell into a syncope so profound that she was taken for dead, and accordingly buried in a pit with the other dead bodies. The next morning after her interment she returned to life, and made the strongest efforts to get out, but was held down by the weight of the bodies with which she was covered. She remained in this wretched condition for four days, when the grave-diggers took her out and carried her to her own house, where she recovered perfectly.” Following this case, that of a labouring man of Courçelles, near Neuchâtel, is narrated. He fell into so profound syncope that he was taken for dead; but the persons who were putting him into his grave without a coffin, perceived some motion in his shoulders, for which reason they carried him to his own home, where he perfectly recovered. This accident laid the foundation for his being called the ghost of Courçelles.
“A lawyer of Vesoul, a town of Franche-Comté, near Besançon, so carefully concealed a lethargy, to which he was subject, that nobody knew anything of his disorder, though the paroxysms returned very frequently. The motive which principally induced him to this secrecy was the dread of losing a lady to whom he was just about to be married. Being afraid, however, lest some paroxysm should prove fatal to him, he communicated his case to the Sheriff of the town, who, by virtue of his office, was obliged to take care of him if such a misfortune should happen. The marriage was concluded, and the lawyer for a considerable time enjoyed a perfect state of health, but at last was seized with so violent a paroxysm of the disease that his lady, to whom he had not revealed the secret, not doubting his death, ordered him to be put in his coffin. The Sheriff, though absent when the paroxysm seized him, luckily returned in time to preserve him; for he ordered the interment to be delayed, and the lawyer, returning to life, survived the accident sixteen years.”
Another case is that of a certain person who was conveyed to the church in order to be interred, but one of his friends sprinkling a large quantity of holy water on his face, which was covered, he not only returned to life, but also resumed a perfect state of health.
This writer subjoins other histories of persons who, being interred alive, have expired in their graves and tombs, as has afterwards been discovered by various marks made, not only in their sepulchres, but also in their own bodies. He in a particular manner mentions a young lady of Auxbourg, who, falling into a syncope, in consequence of a suffocation of the matrix, was buried in a deep vault, without being covered with earth, because her friends thought it sufficient to have the vault carefully shut up. Some years after, however, one of the family happened to die; the vault was opened, and the body of the young lady found on the stairs at its entry, without any fingers on the right hand.
It is recorded in “Tr. de Aere et Alim. defect.,” cap. vii., that a certain woman was hanged, and in all appearances was dead, who was nevertheless restored to life by a physician accidentally coming in and ordering a plentiful administration of sal ammoniac.
Another case of hanging is the story of Anne Green, executed at Oxford, December 14, 1650. She was hanged by the neck for half an hour, some of her friends thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all their weight upon her legs, and then pulling her down again with a sudden jerk, thereby the sooner to despatch her out of her pain. After she was in her coffin, being observed to breathe, a lusty fellow stamped with all his force on her breast and stomach to put her out of pain. But by the assistance of Dr. Petty, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clark, she was again brought to life.
Kornmann, in his treatise “De Miraculis Mortuorum,” relates the following history:—“Saint Augustine, from Saint Cirille, informs us that a Cardinal of the name of Andrew having died in Rome in the presence of several bystanders, was next day conveyed to the church, where the Pope and a body of the clergy attended service in order to do honour to his memory. But to their great surprise, after some groans, he recovered his life and senses. This event was at the time looked upon as a miracle, and ascribed to Saint Jerome to whom the Cardinal was greatly attached.”
The following account seems more to resemble a miracle, though we do not find that it was looked upon as such:—“Gocellinus, a young man, and nephew to one of the Archbishops of Cologne, falling into the Rhine, was not found for fifteen days after, but was discovered to be alive as he lay before the shrine of Saint Guibert.”
Persons curious or incredulous upon the dangers of precipitate burials may, for their satisfaction, have recourse to the medical observations of Forestus; those of Amatus Lusitanus; the chirurgical observations of William Fabri; the treatise of Levinus Lemnius on the secret miracles of Nature; the observations of Schenkins; the medico-legal questions of Paul Zacchias; Albertinus Bottonus’s treatise of the Disorders of Women; Terilli’s treatise on the Causes of Sudden Death; Lancisi’s treatise Concerning Deaths, and Kornmann’s treatise on the Miracles of the Dead. These authors furnish us with a great variety of the most palpable and flagrant instances of the uncertainty of the signs of death. As examples of the possibility of even great anatomists being imposed upon by these fallacious signs, the two following accidents are given:—
“Andreas Vesalius, successively first physician to Charles the Fifth and his son Philip the Second of Spain, being persuaded that a certain Spanish gentleman, whom he had under management, was dead, asked liberty of his friends to lay open his body. His request being granted, he no sooner plunged his dissecting-knife in the body than he observed signs of life in it, since, upon opening the breast, he saw the heart palpitating. The friends of the deceased, horrified by the accident, pursued Vesalius as a murderer; and the judges inclined that he should suffer as such. By the entreaties of the King of Spain, he was rescued from the threatening danger, on condition that he would expiate his crime by undertaking a voyage to the Holy Land.”
The account of the accident that befell the other anatomist is taken from Terilli, and runs as follows:—
“A lady of distinction in Spain, being seized with an hysteric suffocation so violent that she was thought irretrievably dead, her friends employed a celebrated anatomist to lay open her body to discover the cause of her death. Upon the second stroke of the knife she was roused from her disorder, and discovered evident signs of life by her lamentable shrieks extorted by the fatal instrument. This melancholy spectacle struck the bystanders with so much consternation and horror that the anatomist, now no less condemned and abhorred than before applauded and extolled, was forthwith obliged to quit not only the town but also the province in which the guiltless tragedy was acted. But though he quitted the now disagreeable scene of the accident, a groundless remorse preyed upon his soul, till at last a fatal melancholy put an end to his life.”
Physicians of the earlier ages knew that there were disorders which so locked up or destroyed the external senses that the patients labouring under them appeared to be dead. According to Mr. Le Clerc, in his “History of Medicine,” Diogenes Laertius informs us “that Empedocles was particularly admired for curing a woman supposed to be dead, though that philosopher frankly acknowledged that her disorder was only a suffocation of the matrix, and affirmed that the patient might live in that state (the absence of respiration) for thirty days.”
Mr. Le Clerc, in the work already quoted, tells us that “Heraclides of Pontus wrote a book concerning the causes of diseases, in which he affirmed that a patient is without respiration in certain disorders for thirty days, and that they appeared dead in every respect, except corruption of the body.”
To these authorities we may add that of Pliny, who, after mentioning the lamentable fate of Aviola and Lamia, affirms—“That such is the condition of humanity, and so uncertain the judgment men are capable of forming of things, that even death itself is not to be trusted to.”
Colerus, in “Oeconom.” part vi., lib. xviii., cap. 113, observes, “That a person as yet not really dead may, for a long time, remain apparently in that state without discovering the least signs of life; and this has happened in the times of the Plague, when a great many persons interred have returned to life in their graves.” Authors also inform us that the like accident frequently befalls women seized with a suffocation of the matrix (hysteria).
Forestus, in “Obs. Med.,” 1. xvii., obs. 9, informs us—“That drowned persons have returned to life after remaining forty-eight hours in the water; and sometimes women, buried during a paroxysm of the hysteric passion, have returned to life in their graves; for which reason it is forbidden in some countries to bury the dead sooner than seventy-two hours after death.” This precaution of delaying the interment of persons thought to be dead is of a very ancient date, since Dilberus, in “Disput. Philol.,” tome i., observes that Plato ordered the bodies of the dead to be kept till the third day, in order to be satisfied of the reality of death.
The burial customs of the ancients often included steps that were taken as a precaution against mistaking the living for the dead. Indeed the fear of such an accident seems to have always been entertained as a thing liable to occur in every case of seeming death. The embalming process employed by the Egyptians was a surgical test of the kind. The abdomen was first opened in order to remove the intestines, and some startling experiences must have been had in consequence of the incisions required for this operation, because it was customary for the friends and relatives of the deceased to throw stones at the persons employed in embalming as soon as the work was over, owing to the horror with which they were struck upon witnessing what must have been at times a cruel proceeding.
The funeral ceremonies used in the Caribbee Islands are, in a great measure, conformable to reason. They wash the body, wrap it up in a cloth, and then begin a series of lamentations and discourses calculated to recall the deceased to life, by naming all the pleasures and privileges he has enjoyed in the world, saying over and over again, “How comes it, then, that you have died?” When the lamentations are over, they place the body on a small seat, in a grave about four or five feet deep, and for ten days present aliments to it, entreating it to eat. Then, convinced that it would neither eat nor return to life, they, for its obstinacy, throw the victuals on its head, and cover up the grave. It is evident from the practices of this people that they wait so long before they cover the body with earth, because they have had instances of persons recalled to life by these measures.
Lamentations of a similar kind were employed by the Jews and Romans, as well as by the ancient Prussians and the inhabitants of Servia, founded doubtless upon similar experiences.
The Thracians, according to Herodotus, kept their dead for only three days, at the end of which time they offered up sacrifices of all kinds, and, after bidding their last adieu to the deceased, either burned or interred their bodies.
According to Quenstedt, the ancient Russians laid the body of the dead person naked on a table, and washed it for an hour with warm water. Then they put it into a bier, which was set in the most public room in the house. On the third day they conveyed it to the place of interment, where the bier, being opened, the women embraced the body with great lamentations. Then the singers spent an hour in shouting and making a noise in order to recall it to life; after which it was let down into the grave and covered with earth. So that this people used the test of warm water, that of cries, and a reasonable delay, before they proceeded to the interment.
In the laws and history of the Jews, there is but one regulation with respect to interment (in the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy), where the Jewish legislator orders persons hanged to be buried the same day. From this, one is led to infer that the funeral ceremonies, as handed down from Adam, were otherwise perfect and unexceptionable. The bier used by the Jews, on which the body was laid, was not shut at the top, as our coffins are, as is obvious from the resurrection of the Widow of Nain’s son, recorded in the seventh chapter of Luke, where these words occur:—“And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and he that was dead sat up and began to speak.”
Gierus and Calmet inform us that the body, before its interment, lay for some days in the porch or dining-room of the house. According to Maretus, it was probably during this time that great lamentations were made, in which the name of the deceased was intermixed with mournful cries and groans.
Mr. Boyer, member of the Faculty at Paris, observes that such lamentations are still used by the Eastern Jews, and even by the Greeks who embrace the articles of the Greek Church. These people hire women to weep and dance by turns round the body of the dead person, whom they interrogate with respect to the reasons they had for dying.
Lanzoni, a physician of Ferrara, informs us that “when any person among the Romans died, his nearest relatives closed his mouth and eyes, and when they saw him ready to expire, they caught his last words and sighs. Then calling him aloud three times by his name, they bade him an eternal adieu.” This ceremony of calling the name of the dying person was called Conclamation, a custom that dates prior to the foundation of Rome, and was only abolished with paganism.
Propertius acquaints us with the effect they expected from the first Conclamation—since there were several of them. He introduces Cynthia as saying, “Nobody called me by my name at the time my eyes were closing, and I should have enjoyed an additional day if you had recalled me to life.”
Conclamations were made also by trumpets and horns, blown upon the head, into the ears, and upon neck and chest, so as to penetrate all the cavities of the body, into which, as the ancients imagined, the soul might possibly make her retreat.
Quenstedt and Casper Barthius, in “Advers.,” lib. xxxvii., ch. 17, tell us that it was customary among the ancients to wash the bodies of their dead in warm water before they burned them, “that the heat of the water might rouse the languid principle of life which might possibly be left in the body.”
By warm water we are to understand boiling water, as is obvious from the copious steam arising from the vessel represented in pieces of statuary in such instances: as also from the Sixth Book of Virgil’s “Æneid”—“Some of the companions of Æneas, with boiling water taken from brazen vessels, wash the dead body, and then anoint it.”
The Romans, as Lanzoni informs us, kept the bodies of the dead seven days before they interred them; and Servius, in his commentary on Virgil, tells us “that on the eighth day they burned the body, and on the ninth put its ashes in the grave.” Polydorus and Alexander ab Alexandro are also of opinion that the Romans kept the dead seven days; and Gierus affirms that they sometimes did not bury them till the ninth; but it is easy to believe that they deviated from the most universal custom when evident and incontestable marks of death rendered it safe to inter before the usual time. Alexander ab Alexandro also observes that it was customary among the Greeks to keep the bodies of their dead seven days before they put them on the funeral pile.
It would have, perhaps, been sufficient to have kept the bodies of the dead seven days, or nine, or till putrefaction evinced the certainty of death; but the Romans carried their circumspection farther, since, to use the words of Quenstedt, “Those who were employed in watching the dead now and then began their conclamations, and all at once called the dead person aloud by his name, because, as Celsus informs us, the principle of life is often thought to have left the body when it still remains in it; for which reason conclamations were made, in order, if possible, to rouse it and excite it.”
If our senses are so imperfect that the signs of life may escape them; if the languid state of the sensitive powers, or the origin of the nerves, is such that the most painful chirurgical operations are sometimes insufficient to put the spirits in motion; if the duration of a perfect insensibility for a considerable number of days is a precarious and uncertain mark of death; and if situations, apparently the most inconsistent with life, for a considerable time amount only to strong presumptions that life is destroyed, we ought, with Mr. Winslow and a great many other celebrated authors, to conclude that a beginning of putrefaction is the only certain sign of death.
Mr. Winslow evidently proves that the most cruel chirurgical operations are sometimes insufficient to ascertain death. From these observations we can but conclude—(1) That it is to no purpose to use the most cruel chirurgical operations; and (2) that it is necessary to abstain from such as may prove mortal to the patient. Mr. Winslow is indeed so far from recommending operations of the last mentioned kind, that he calls it rash to plunge a long needle under the nail of an apoplectic patient’s toe.
But if Mr. Winslow thinks it rash to make a simple puncture in a nervous part, we ought, surely, not to entertain a favourable notion of the large and enormous incisions made in dissections. Those, indeed, who are dissected run no risk of being interred alive. The operation is an infallible means to secure them from so terrible a fate. This is one advantage which persons dissected have over those who are without any further ceremony shut up in their coffins.
In the appendix to the second edition of Dr. Curry’s “Observations on Apparent Death” several instances of a similar kind are added, and amongst others the case of William Earl of Pembroke, who died April 30, 1630. When the body was opened in order to be embalmed, he was observed, immediately after the incision was made, to lift up his hand. This is capped by the incident of Vesalius already given.
“A correspondent of the late Dr. Hawes assures us that there was then living in Hertfordshire a lady of an ancient and honourable family whose mother was brought to life after interment by the attempt of a thief to steal a valuable ring from her finger. (See Reports of the Royal Humane Society for 1787-88-89, p. 77.) Whether it was the same or not I cannot say, but Lady Dryden, who resided in the southern part of Northamptonshire, in consequence of some such event having occurred in her family expressly directed in her will that her body should have the throat cut across previous to interment; and to secure this bequeathed fifty pounds to an eminent physician, who actually performed it.”—Ibid., p. 106.
Dr. Elliotson refers to a case of a female who was pronounced to be dead. Her pulse could not be felt, and she was put into a coffin; and, as the coffin lid was being closed they observed a sweat break out, and thus saw that she was alive. She recovered completely, and then stated that she had been unable to give any signs of life whatever; that she was conscious of all that was going on around her; that she heard everything; and that when she found the coffin lid about to be put on,the agony was dreadful beyond all description, so that it produced the sweat seen by the attendants.
DEATH-TRANCE.
In two cases related by the late Mr. Braid, of Manchester, “the patients remained in the horrible condition of hearing various remarks about their death and interment. All this they heard distinctly without having the power of giving any indication that they were alive, until some accidental abrupt impression aroused them from their lethargy, and rescued them from their perilous situation. On one of these occasions, what most intensely affected the feelings of the entranced subject, as she afterwards communicated to my informant, was hearing a little sister, who came into the room, where she was laid out for dead, exulting in the prospect, in consequence of her death, of getting possession of a necklace of the deceased.” In another instance, the patient remained in a cataleptic condition for fourteen days. During this period, the visible signs of vitality were a slight degree of animal heat and appearance of moisture when a mirror was held close to her face. But although she had no voluntary power to give indication by word or gesture, nevertheless she heard and understood all that was said and proposed to be done, and suffered the most exquisite torture from various tests applied to her.... There is hardly a more interesting chapter in the records of medical literature than the history of well-authenticated cases of profound lethargy or death-trance. Most of the reported cases in which persons in a state of trance are stated to have been consigned to the horrors of a living burial may possibly be apocryphal. Still, on the other hand, there are unquestionably too many well-substantiated instances of the actual occurrence of this calamity, the horrors of which no effort of the imagination can exaggerate, and for the prevention of which no pains can be excessive and no precaution superfluous.
The following is taken from “Memorials of the Family of Scott, of Scott’s Hall, in the County of Kent, with an Appendix of Illustrative Documents,” by James Benat Scott, F. S. A., London, 1876, page 225:—
“Robert Scott, Esq., tenth (but sixth surviving) son of Sir Thomas Scott, of Scot’s-Hall, Knight, married Priscilla, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsmere, Knight, by whom he had nine children. Remarkable accidents happened to the said Robert Scott and Priscilla, his wife, before their marriage, at their marriage, and after their marriage, before they had children. At their marriage, which was in or about the year 1610, the said Robert Scott having forgot his wedding ring when they were to be married, the said Priscilla was married with a ring with death’s head upon it.
“Within a short time after they were married, the said Robert Scott, and Priscilla, his wife, sojourning with Sir Edward at Austenhanger, the said Robert Scott, about Bartholomewtide, fell sick of a desperate malignant fever, and was given over for dead by all, insomuch as that he was laid forth, the pillows pulled from under him, the curtains drawn, and the chamber windows set open, and ministers spoke to to preach the funeral service, and a book called for his funeral that was to have been kept at Scott’s Hall, where Sir John Scott the eldest brother then lived. At night he was watched with by his own servant, named Robins, and another servant in the house, and about midnight they, sitting together by the fire in the chamber, the said Robins said to the other, ‘Methinks my master should not be dead, I will go and try,’ and presently starting up went to the bedside where his master laid, and hallooed in his ear, and laid a feather to his nostrils, and perceived that he breathed, upon which he called them up in the house, and they warmed clothes and rubbed him, and brought him to life again. He lived afterwards to be upwards of seventy-two years of age, and to have nine children.
“Another remarkable passage was that his wife, Priscilla, being then very sick also, they told her that he was dead. She answered that she did not believe that God would part them so soon. The said Priscilla, when born, was laid for dead, no one minding her, but all the women went to help her mother, who was then like to die after her delivery; but at last an old woman, taking the child in her arms, carried it downstairs, and using means, brought her to life. The other women, missing the child, and hearing the old woman had carried her down to get life in her, laughed at her, as thinking it impossible to bring the child to life; but in a little time she brought it into the chamber, to the amazement of them all, and said she might live to be an old woman; and so she did to the age of fifty-two, and had nine children.”
The following cases are from Mrs. Crowe’s “Night Side of Nature,” pp. 133-136:—
“Dr. Burns mentions a girl at Canton, who lay in a trance, hearing every word that was said around her, but utterly unable to move a finger. She tried to cry out, but could not, and supposed that she was really dead. The horror of finding that she was about to be buried at length caused a perspiration to appear on her skin, and she finally revived. She described that she felt that her soul had no power to act upon her body, and that it seemed to be in her body and out of it at the same time.”
“Lady Fanshawe related the case of her mother who being sick of a fever, her friends and servants thought her deceased, and she lay in that state for two days and a night; but Mr. Winslow, coming to comfort my father, went into my mother’s room, and looking earnestly into her face, said, ‘She was so handsome, and looked so lovely, that he could not think her dead,’ and, suddenly taking a lancet out of his pocket, he cut the sole of her foot, which bled: upon this he immediately caused her to be removed to the bed again, and she opened her eyes, after rubbing and other restorative means, and came to life.”
“On the 10th of January, 1717, Mr. John Gardner, a minister at Elgin, fell into a trance, and being to all appearances dead, he was put into a coffin and on the second day was carried to the grave. But fortunately a noise being heard, the coffin was opened, and he was found alive and taken home again, where, according to the record, ‘he related many strange and amazing things which he had seen in the other world.’”
Under the head of “Suspended Animation: Cases of Recovery, etc.,” the Report of the Royal Humane Society for 1816-17, pp. 48-50, copies the following:—“A young lady, an attendant on the Princess of——, after having been confined to her bed for a great length of time with a violent disorder, was at last to all appearances deprived of life. Her lips were quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead person, and her body became cold.
“She was removed from the room in which she died, was laid in a coffin, and the day of her funeral was fixed on. The day arrived, and, according to the custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were sung before the door. Just as they were about to nail on the lid of the coffin, a slight perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of her body. It grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion was observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A few moments after, during which time fresh signs of returning life appeared, she at once opened her eyes, and uttered a pitiable shriek. Physicians were quickly procured, and in the course of a few days she was considerably restored, and is probably alive at this day.”
The description which she herself gave of her situation is extremely remarkable, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology:—
“She said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really dead; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends speaking, and lamenting her death at the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on the dead-clothes and lay her in it. This feeling produced a mental anxiety which was indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was without power and could not act on her body. She had the contradictory feeling as if she were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the same time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arms, or to open her eyes, or to cry although she continued to do so. The internal anguish of her mind was, however, at its utmost height when the funeral hymns began to be sung, and when the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought that she was to be buried alive was the first one which gave activity to her soul, and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame.”
Related by Dr. Herz in the “Psychological Magazine,” and transcribed by Sir Alexander Crichton in the introduction to his essay on “Mental Derangement.” [2 vols., Lond., 1798.]
“One of the most frightful cases extant is that of Dr. Walker, of Dublin, who had so strong a presentiment on this subject, that he had actually written a treatise against the Irish custom of hasty burial. He, himself, subsequently died, as was believed, of a fever. His decease took place in the night, and on the following day he was interred. At this time, Mrs. Bellamy, the once-celebrated actress, was in Ireland; and as she had promised him, in the course of conversation, that she would take care he should not be laid in the earth till unequivocal signs of dissolution had appeared, she no sooner heard of what had happened than she took measures to have the grave reopened; but it was, unfortunately, too late. Dr. Walker had evidently revived, and had turned upon his side; but life was quite extinct.”
Mr. Horace Welby, in a chapter on “Premature Interment,” says that “the Rev. Owen Manning, the historian of Surrey, during his residence at Cambridge University, caught small-pox, and was reduced by the disorder to a state of insensibility and apparent death. The body was laid out and preparations were made for the funeral, when Mr. Manning’s father, going into the chamber to take a last look at his son, raised the imagined corpse from its recumbent position, saying, ‘I will give my poor boy another chance,’ upon which signs of vitality were apparent. He was therefore removed by his friend and fellow-student, Dr. Heberden, and ultimately restored to health.”—The Mysteries of Life and Death, pp. 115-116.
A most conspicuous and interesting monument in St. Giles’s Church, Cripplegate, London (where Cromwell was married and John Milton buried), is associated with a remarkable case of trance or catalepsy. In the chancel is a striking sculptured figure in memory of Constance Whitney, a lady of remarkable gifts, whose rare excellences are fully described in the tablet. She is represented as rising from her coffin. Welby, at p. 116, relates the story that she had been buried while in a state of suspended animation, but was restored to life through the cupidity of the sexton, which induced him to disinter the body to obtain possession of a valuable ring left upon her finger, which he concluded could be of no use to the wearer. A study of the facts of premature burial shows that the rifling of tombs and coffins to obtain valuables has in other instances revealed similar tragic occurrences.
The often-cited case of Mrs. Goodman, one of those recalled to life by the sexton’s attempt to remove a ring from the finger, is thus related in the “History of Bandon,” by George Bennett:—
Hannah, wife of Rev. Richard Goodman, vicar of Ballymodan, Bandon, from 1692 to 1737, fell into ill-health, and apparently died. Two or three days after her decease, the body was taken to Rosscarbery Cathedral, and there laid in the family vault of the Goodmans. The attempt of the sexton to recover a valuable diamond ring from the finger is said to have been made at an early hour the next morning. Much violence was used, so that the corpse moved, yawned, and sat up. The sexton having fled in terror, leaving his lantern behind and the church door open, the lady in her shroud made her way out of the vault and through the church to the residence of her brother-in-law, the Rev. Thomas Goodman, which was just outside the church-yard. Having been admitted after some delay and consternation, she was put to bed, and fell asleep soon after, her brother-in-law and his man-servant keeping watch over her until mid-day, when she awoke refreshed. She is said to have shown herself in the village in the afternoon, to have supped with the family in the evening, and to have set out for home on horseback next morning. She is said to have survived this episode for some years, and to have borne a son subsequent to it, who died at an advanced age at Innishannon, a village near Bandon.
In Smith’s “History of Cork,” vol. ii., p. 428, the same incident is thus mentioned:—“Mr. John Goodman, of Cork, died in January, 1747, aged about four score; but what is remarkable of him, his mother was interred while she lay in a trance, having been buried in a vault, etc.... This Mr. Goodman was born some time after.”
Mr. Peckard, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, in a work entitled “Further Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State,” mentions that Mrs. Godfrey, Mistress of the Jewel Office, and sister of the great Duke of Marlborough, is stated to have lain in a trance, apparently dead, for seven days, and was declared by her medical attendants to have been dead. Colonel Godfrey, her husband, would not allow her to be interred, or the body to be treated in the manner of a corpse; and on the eighth day she awoke, without any consciousness of her long insensibility.
The daughter of Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, the first President of the American Congress during the Revolutionary War, died when young of small-pox. At all events a medical certificate pronounced her dead, and she was shrouded and coffined for interment. It was customary in those days to confine the patient amidst red curtains with closed windows. After the certificate of death had been duly made out, the curtains were thrown back and the windows opened. The fresh air revived the patient, who recovered and lived to a mature age. This circumstance occasioned on her father so powerful a dread of living interment, that he directed by will that his body should be burnt, and enjoined on his children the performance of this wish as a sacred duty.
Bouchut in his “Signes de la Mort,” p. 58, relates that the physician of Queen Isabella of Spain was treating a man during a dangerous illness, and as he went to see his patient one morning he was informed by the assistants that the man had died. He entered, and found the body, in the habit of the Order of St. Francis, laid out upon a board. Nothing daunted, he had him put back to bed in spite of the ridicule of those present, and the patient soon revived and fully recovered.
The following cases are from Köppen (see Bibliography, 1799):—
Vienna. 1791.—A castle guard (portier) was in a trance for several days. His funeral was prepared, and he was placed in a coffin. All at once he unexpectedly opened his eyes and called out, “Mother, where is the coffee?”
Halle, 1753.—In the register of deaths, at St. Mary’s Church, is the following entry:—“Shoemaker Casper Koch was buried, aged eighty-one years. Thirty years ago he had died, to all appearances, and was put in a coffin, when suddenly, when they were about to bury him, he recovered his consciousness.”
Haag, Holland, 1785.—The son of a cook died, and while the coffin was being carried to the grave-yard, he was heard to knock. On opening the coffin he was found alive. He was taken home and was restored.
In the “Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine,” edited by John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., and others, 1847, vol. i., pp. 548-549, is the following:—“A remarkable instance of resuscitation after apparent death occurred in France, in the neighbourhood of Douai, in the year 1745, and is related by Rigaudeaux, (Journal des Sçavans, 1749,) to whom the case was confided. He was summoned in the morning to attend a woman in labour, at a distance of about a league. On his arrival, he was informed that she had died in a convulsive fit two hours previously. The body was already prepared for interment, and on examination he could discover no indications of life. The os uteri was sufficiently dilated to enable him to turn the child and deliver by the feet. The child appeared to be dead also; but, by persevering in the means of resuscitation for three hours, they excited some signs of vitality, which encouraged them to proceed, and their endeavours were ultimately crowned with complete success. Rigaudeaux again carefully examined the mother, and was confirmed in the belief of her death; but he found that, although she had been in that state for seven hours, her limbs retained their flexibility. Stimulants were applied in vain; he took his leave, recommending that the interment should be deferred until the flexibility was lost. At five p.m. a messenger came to inform him that she had revived at half-past three. The mother and child were both alive three years after.”
[APPENDIX B.]
RESUSCITATION OF STILL-BORN AND OTHER INFANTS.
The danger of premature burial of still-born (apparently dead) infants is clearly shown by the following quotation from Tidy’s “Legal Medicine,” part ii., page 253, from tables given on the authority of the British and Foreign Medical Review, No. ii., p. 235, based on eight millions of births. “It would appear that from one in eighteen to one in twenty births are still-born. Dr. Lever found that the proportion in his three thousand cases was one in eighteen. So notorious is it that a large number of these deaths could be averted, that some legislation is urgently needed, requiring that still-borns, whose bodies weigh, say, not less than two pounds (the average weight about the sixth and seventh months at which children are viable), should not be buried without registration and a medical examination.”
Many instances can be found in current medical literature of still-born infants that have been revived by artificial respiration. Such cases not infrequently revive without any means being employed for their resuscitation; but among the poor, who dispose of the new-born apparently dead in a hasty manner, they might be buried alive through carelessness. The use of mortuaries, where the seeming dead would be kept under observation until decomposition appears, would of course prevent such disasters.
Struve, in the Essay cited in the Bibliography (1802), says:—
“All still-born children should be considered as only apparently dead, and the resuscitative process ought never to be neglected. Sometimes two hours or more will elapse before reanimation can be effected. An ingenious man-midwife, says Bruhier, was employed for several hours in the revival of an apparently still-born child, and as his endeavours proved unavailing, he considered the subject really dead. Being, however, accidentally detained, he again turned his attention to the child, and by continuing the resuscitative method for some time it was unexpectedly restored to life” (p. 150).
The following is one of Struve’s most striking cases:—
A Mr. E.—— called in 18—— to obtain a certificate of death for a still-born child of seven months’ gestation. Arriving at the house, the doctor found the child laid upon a little straw and covered with a slight black shawl; this was one p.m., and the child had been there since five a.m. It was icy cold, and there was no heart sound nor respiration, but there was a slight muscular twitching over the region of the heart. The child was immersed in a hot bath and artificial respiration employed, but for twenty minutes the case seemed hopeless; then the eyes opened and after continued effort the respirations began, laborious and interrupted at first, then normal by degrees. The child was saved, and became an accomplished violinist.
The mortality and waste of infant life, particularly in large cities like Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, and New York, is admitted by all investigators to be enormous. In France medical writers, in view of the small percentage of births to population, are waking up to the realisation that the State cannot afford the loss, and that, among other things, steps should be taken to resuscitate the still-born, so that none should be buried before unequivocal signs of death are manifested.[21] The premature abandonment of the still-born among the poorer classes in crowded cities is only too probable. There are also cases recorded which show a corresponding risk to infants who have survived their birth:—
The British Medical Journal, January 21, 1871, p. 71, gives the following case, under the heading, “Alive in a Coffin”:—“Stories of this kind are generally very apocryphal; but the following reaches us from an authentic source. A child narrowly escaped being buried alive last week in Manchester. The infant’s father had died, and was to be buried in Ardwick Cemetery. The day before the burial the infant was taken ill, and apparently died. A certificate of death was procured from a surgeon’s assistant who had seen the child, and, to save expense, it was decided to place it in the same coffin with the father. This was done, and the next morning the bearers set off to the cemetery with their double burden; but before reaching the grave-yard a cry was heard to issue from the coffin. The lid being removed, the infant was discovered alive and kicking. It was at once removed to a neighbour’s house, but died eight hours afterwards.
The British Medical Journal, 1885, ii., p. 841, gives the following case, under the heading, “Death or Coma?”
“The close similarity which is occasionally seen to connect the appearance of death with that of exhaustion following disease, was lately illustrated in a somewhat striking manner. An infant seized with convulsions was supposed to have died about three weeks ago at Stamford Hill. After five days’ interval, preparations were being made for its interment, when, at the grave’s mouth, a cry was heard to come from the coffin. The lid was taken off, and the child was found to be alive; it was taken home, and is recovering.”
The following is from Tidy’s “Legal Medicine,” pt. i., p. 29:—
“In a communication to the French Academy, Professor Fort mentions a child (ætat. three) having been resuscitated by artificial respiration continued for four hours, and not commenced until three and a half hours after its apparent decease.
“Ogston records one case of a child alive for seven hours, and a second case of a young woman alive for four hours, after they had been left as dead.”
From the Lancet, April 22, 1882, p. 675:—
“PREMATURE INTERMENT.
“A daily contemporary states that at the gates of the Avignon cemetery the parents of a child certified to have died of croup insisted on having the coffin opened to take a last look. The child was found breathing, and is expected to be saved.”
The following letter to the editor of the Lancet, March 31, 1866, p. 360, illustrates the danger to which infants supposed to be dead are exposed, under one of our traditional customs:—
“LAYING-OUT OF DEAD INFANTS.
“Sir,—In your journal of last Saturday, among the ‘Medical Annotations,’ you notice the inquiry into the circumstances under which an infant, being still living and moving, was ‘bandaged’ beneath the chin, and ‘laid-out’ at St. Pancras Workhouse. Allow me to state that in the Lancet, vol. ii., 1850, a contribution from me ‘On the Danger of Tying-up the Lower Jaw immediately after Supposed Death’ was published. An infant, aged two months, was brought to me on a Friday with the lower jaw tied up by its mother, who asked for a certificate of death; but on my removing the bandage, the child began to show symptoms of vitality, and it lived until the following Monday.
C. J. B. Aldis, M.D., F.R.C.P.
“Chester Terrace, Chester Square, March 26, 1866.”
It is recorded that Dr. Doddridge showed so little signs of life at his birth that he was laid aside as dead, but one of the attendants observing some signs of life, took the baby under her charge, and by her judicious treatment perfectly restored it.
Mr. Highmore, Secretary of the London Lying-in Hospital, confirmed (by a communication to the Royal Humane Society, April, 1816,) the statement of Mrs. Catherine Widgen, the matron of that excellent establishment, that, by a zealous perseverance in the means recommended by that Society, she had been the happy instrument of restoring from a state of apparent death in the space of three years no less than forty-five infants, who, but for her humane attention and indefatigable exertions, must have been consigned to the grave. Later on, Mrs. Widgen restored in one year twenty-seven apparently dead-born children—a striking instance of the truth of the remark of a celebrated writer (Osiander) that “the generality of infants, considered as still-born, are only apparently so; if, therefore, persons would persevere in their exertions to revive them, most of them might be restored.”—Report of the Royal Humane Society, 1816-17, pp. 52-54.
“For these exertions the General Court adjudged the Honorary Medallion to Mrs. Widgen, and it was accordingly presented to her by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent.”—Ibid., p. 52.
[The question naturally suggests itself in this place: If the matron of such a noble institution as the above was able to save seventy-two apparently dead children from the grave in four years, how many of these poor little beings are consigned to the grave all over the world for lack of the “humane attention and indefatigable exertions,” such as this skilful matron gave to those that came under her intelligent care?]
“RECURRENCE OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION.
“A child, who had a cough for some time, was suddenly attacked with difficulty of breathing, and to all appearances died. A medical gentleman immediately inflated the lungs, and by persisting in this for a considerable time, recovered the child. A similar state of suspended animation took place three or four times, and inflation was as often had recourse to with the same success; but the attack, happening, unfortunately, to recur whilst the medical gentleman in whose family the case happened was from home, the proper measures were not taken, and the child was lost.”—Ibid., p. 140.
“SHOCK FROM LIGHTNING.
“A boy was struck down by a flash of lightning near Hoxton (in the suburbs of London), and lay exposed to the rain at least an hour, until his companions carried him home on some boards, apparently dead—the body being stiff and universally cold, the fingers and toes contracted, and the countenance livid. He was stripped of his wet clothes, put in hot blankets, and bled twenty ounces. In half an hour, interrupted respiration commenced, without inflating the lungs; in an hour more, regular pulsation and breathing were established, together with power of swallowing; and in a week he was quite well.”—Ibid., p. 147.
In the Lancet, 1884, vol. i., p. 922, W. Arnold Thompson, F.R.C.S.I., reports a case of resuscitation of a child delivered by the forceps, which was “apparently to myself [he says] and the nurse and relatives, a perfectly dead child, and with no signs of respiration or life about it.... My opinion was that the death was real and positive, but that, there being no actual disease present, and the blood still warm, the machinery of life was set going, and resuscitation followed as a consequence of suitable means being taken and persevered in without undue delay. In the future I do not intend to allow any still-born children to be put away without making strenuous efforts to restore vitality.”
The Lancet, 1880, vol. ii., p. 582:—In a discussion at the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society upon Artificial Respiration in New-born Children, Dr. Roper related three cases in which the child was left for dead. “One of these occurred in the practice of Mr. Brown, of St. Mary Axe. The child was still-born in the absence of a medical man. It was taken to the surgery, and thence to the late Mr. Solly, who next day, in dissecting the body, found that the heart was still beating. A second instance was of a fœtus of five months and a half, which was set aside as dead, Dr. Roper attending the mother, who was suffering from hæmorrhage. He was astonished next day to find that this immature child, which had lain on the floor for eleven hours through a cold night, was breathing and its heart beating....” Such examples show that the new-born have greater tenacity of life than is supposed.
The Lancet, 1881, vol. ii., p. 430, under the heading of “The Burial of Still-born Infants,” states that “Greater security for the due observance of these necessary regulations (the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1874), for the burial of infants said to be still-born, is urgently called for. It is constantly patent that the burial of deceased infants as still-born, if checked, is by no means prevented; and that the authorities of burial grounds, by their laxity in carrying out the provisions of the Act, afford dangerous facilities for the concealment of crime, or negligence, and for a practice which threatens to impair the value of our birth and death registration statistics; for, if a live-born infant be buried as still-born, neither its birth nor its death is registered.”
A case of forceps-delivery occurred in the hands of the writer (E.P.V.), in which the child, when extracted, was quite purple in colour, and absolutely dead to all appearances—there was no breathing nor impulse to be found anywhere. After some efforts at resuscitation in the way of artificial respiration—not very thoroughly done, nor much prolonged (for the child was believed to be dead)—with a warm bath and frictions, it was laid aside and covered up. At a subsequent visit some hours later, the child was found in the nurse’s lap, completely recovered, and changed in colour to a bright pink. The nurse said she did not like to give the little fellow up, and by breathing into his mouth for some time he showed returning life, and by keeping it up he soon began to breathe himself.
Cases like this are believed to be not infrequent, because physicians and nurses are not, as a general rule, aware of the great tenacity of life possessed by the new-born infant.
“Still-births are not registered in England; but, under the new Registration Act, no still-born child can be buried without a certificate from a registered practitioner in attendance, or a declaration from a midwife, to the effect that the child was still-born. The proportion of still-births in this country is supposed to be about four per cent., but this is uncertain.”—A. Newsholme, Vital Statistics, 1889, p. 61.
“The proportion of deaths from premature births, compared with the total number of births, in 1861-65 was 11·19 to 1,000 births; since which time it has steadily increased, reaching the ratio of 15·89 per births in 1,000 in 1887.”—Ibid., p. 216.
The same author, p. 17, states that “a certain proportion of the births remain unregistered(a). There is strong reason for thinking that a certain number of children born alive are buried as still-born.”
[APPENDIX C.]
RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED.
This is perhaps the best known and most generally appreciated occasion of rescuing the apparently dead. The high degree in which it has excited public sympathy will appear from a glance at that section of the “Bibliography” (towards the end of the eighteenth century) which gives the titles of essays and reports connected with the Royal Humane Society and the corresponding foreign institutions upon which our own was modelled. The following general remarks and cases are from the essay of Dr. Struve, of Görlitz, Lusatia, 1802:—
“A great number of persons apparently drowned have been restored to life without the use of stimulants, merely by the renovated susceptibility of irritation. I have collected thirty-six cases of persons apparently drowned in Lusatia from the year 1772 to the year 1792. Most of them were treated by uninformed people, and revived by friction and warming; two persons, however, were indebted for their lives to the continuation of the resuscitative process for several hours. The greatest number were children; which is to be ascribed not only to the greater danger to which they are exposed of drowning, but also to the longer continuance of vital power in the infant frame” (p. 136).
“A boy of about a year and a half old had lain upwards of a quarter of an hour in the water, and was found face downwards, and the whole body livid and swollen. He was undressed, wiped dry, and wrapped in warm blankets; but the most particular part of the process was rolling the body upon a table, shaking it by the shoulders, and rubbing the feet. This having been continued for an hour, a convulsive motion was observed in the toes; sneezing was excited by snuff; the tongue stimulated by strong vinegar; the throat irritated with a feather; an injection given. The child vomited a large quantity of water, and in an hour afterwards began to breathe, and was completely restored to life” (p. 137).
“A woman upwards of thirty years of age, and who was affected with epilepsy, fell in a fit from a height of twenty feet into the water, where she remained a full quarter of an hour before she was taken out. Mr. Redlich, surgeon, of Hamburg, had her put into a bed warmed by hot bottles; she was rubbed with warm flannels, some spirits were dropped into her mouth, when in a quarter of an hour symptoms of life, such as convulsive motion and a very weak pulse, appeared. In three hours from the time she was taken out of the water she recovered completely” (p. 138).
Dr. Charles Londe, in a remarkable pamphlet (“Lettre sur la Mort Apparente, les Conséquences Réelles des Inhumations Précipitées, et le Temps Pendent lequel peut persister l’Aptitude à étre Rapellé à la Vie.” Paris, Bailliére, 1854), records some instances of narrow escapes from premature burial of the drowned, one of which may be cited:—
“On the 13th of July, 1829, about two p.m., near the Pont des Arts, Paris, a body, which appeared lifeless, was taken out of the river. It was that of a young man, twenty years of age, dark-complexioned, and strongly built. The corpse was discoloured and cold; the face and lips swollen and tinged with blue; a thick and yellowish froth exuded from the mouth; the eyes were open, fixed, and motionless; the limbs limp and drooping. No pulsation of the heart nor trace of respiration was perceptible. The body had remained under water for a considerable time; the search for it, made in Dr. Bourgeois’s presence, lasted fully twenty minutes. That gentleman did not hesitate to incur the derision of the lookers-on by proceeding to attempt the resuscitation of what, in their eyes, was a mere lump of clay. Nevertheless, several hours afterwards, the supposed corpse was restored to life, thanks to the obstinate perseverance of the doctor, who, although a strong man and enjoying robust health, was several times on the point of losing courage and abandoning the patient in despair. But what would have happened if Dr. Bourgeois, instead of persistently remaining stooping over the inanimate body, with watchful eye and attentive ear, to catch the first rustling of the heart, had left the drowned man, after half an hour’s fruitless endeavour, as often happens? The unfortunate man would have been laid in the grave, although capable of restoration to life!”
To this case, Dr. Bourgeois, in the “Archives de Medecine,” adds others, in which individuals remained under water as long as SIX HOURS, and were recalled to life by efforts which a weaker conviction than his own would have refrained from making. These facts lead Dr. Londe to the conclusion that, every day, drowned individuals are buried, who, with greater perseverance, might be restored to life!
The following case in point appears in the Sunnyside, New York, communicated by J. W. Green, M.D.:—
“A few years since I was walking by the Central Park, near One Hundred and Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue. Noticing a crowd that was acting in an unusual manner by the side of the lake, I approached and inquired of one of the bystanders what was the cause of the excitement. He replied, ‘A boy is drowned.’ I advanced to the edge of the water, and saw two or three men in the water searching for the body. As they had not yet discovered it, I made enquiries, and found at last a small boy who had been a comrade of the victim. He showed me the spot from which the boy had fallen. I then pointed out to the searchers where to look, and immediately the body was recovered. I took it at once from the hands of the person who had it, and held it reversed, in order to disembarrass it of all the water possible, for a minute or two, then stripped it of its clothing, sent for a blanket and brandy. I took a woollen coat from one of the bystanders until the blanket should arrive, laid the child upon it and commenced to rotate it. This I continued to do for at least fifteen minutes by the watch. I then tried auscultation; no murmur could be heard.
“The skin was cold, the lips were blue. Every artery was still. With all these signs of death present it was still obligatory upon me to persevere. At the end of fifteen minutes there was a slight gasp. A small quantity of brandy was placed upon the tongue. A little of this ran into the larynx, and the stimulation was sufficient to produce a long inspiration and then a cough. This was more than a half-hour from the time when the boy had been removed from the water. Complete restoration did not occur until nearly an hour from that time. He was now given to his mother, and I was informed on the following day that he entirely recovered, without an unfavourable symptom.”
The three following cases of resuscitation from apparent death by drowning are copied from the most recent reports of the Royal Humane Society, London:—
“On 13th of August, 1895, Samuel Lawrence, aged five years, while playing on the bank of a disused clay-pit at South Bank, Yorkshire, fell into the water and sank. Two of his companions dived into the water, and brought him up after a submersion of from seven to ten minutes in an unconscious state. Two working men commenced artificial respiration, and Dr. Steele continued it for ten hours before the boy showed signs of returning sensibility and his complete recovery.”
“October 6th, 1895.—At Deptford, Surrey, a woman with a baby in her arms threw herself into the canal. They were rescued by the Royal Humane Society’s drags. Two ladies took possession of the bodies (time of submersion not stated), and they employed Silvester’s system of artificial respiration with success, in the case of the woman in about one hour, and with the child one hour and a half.”
“August 6th, 1895.—At Bradford, England, Rudolf Pratt, a clerk with Midland R.R. Company, was bathing, and sank in deep water. A bystander by diving brought him up. After a submersion of five minutes, unconscious, and not breathing, Dr. Oldham restored respiration by Sylvester’s method after one and a half hour’s treatment.”
These three cases are instructive on account of the length of time animation remained suspended before it could be aroused to a state of activity; and they lead to the belief that many cases that are given up as actually dead could be saved if efforts at resuscitation were kept up for a lengthened period, as in the first case.
In cases of drowning some persons are quickly revived after a long submersion; others again who are under water only a short time require artificial respiration for a long time before they show signs of returning life, as was the case with Samuel Lawrence, who was submerged only ten minutes, yet required ten hours’ active treatment to revive him.
[APPENDIX D.]
MISCELLANEOUS ADDENDA.
HASTY BURIALS.
As an illustration of hasty burials dealt with in Chapter X. the following case is cited from the King’s County Chronicle, Parsonstown, Ireland, August 27, 1896:—
“ROSCREA GUARDIANS.
“Thursday—Present: T. Jackson, D.V.C., in the chair; L. S. Maher, J.P.; M. Bergin, J.P.; W. J. Menton, W. Jackson, P. Roe.
“Mr. Roe—You made short work of Jack Ryan at the chapel of Knock. He was alive and speaking at three o’clock, and buried at six the same day. The Master stated that, it being supposed the man died from an infectious disease, no person would assist in coffining him till a message came asking that he (the Master) would send out some of the male inmates, and he sent two and had him coffined and interred. Mr. Roe—The man was not cold when he was buried. Master—The nun tells me the man had an ounce of tobacco clasped tightly in his hands. Chairman—What disease had he? Clerk—Pneumonia was certified by the doctor. The people believed that he had died from an infectious disease, and insisted he should be buried immediately. Mr. Roe—It was certainly short work—a man dying at three o’clock and buried at six. Master—This man was married to a woman who was a nurse in the old Donoughmore workhouse, and they lived at Drumar, Knock.”[22]
EVIDENCE OF RESUSCITATIONS IN GRAVE-YARDS.
Reference has been made in this volume to the discoveries of premature burial brought to light during the investigations of charnel-houses in France, and the removal of grave-yards, necessitated through the rapid expansion of towns, in America. The Casket, Rochester, New York, U.S., of March 2, 1896, gives a detailed narrative of recent discoveries made by T. M. Montgomery in the removal of Fort Randall Cemetery, with the condition of the bodies found as to decay or state of preservation, and says:—
“We found among these remains two that bore every evidence of having been buried alive. The first case was that of a soldier that had been struck by lightning. Upon opening the lid of the coffin we found that the legs and arms had drawn up as far as the confines of the coffin would permit. The other was a case of death resulting from alcoholism. The body was slightly turned, the legs were drawn up a trifle, and the hands were clutching the clothing. In the coffin was found a large whisky flask, showing that those who buried him were not his friends, or else that they too were afflicted with the disease that had cut short the life of their companion.
“It occurred to us at that time that this was a great argument in favour of incineration. Nearly two per cent. of those exhumed here were, no doubt, victims of suspended animation. Once before in our experience have we noted this; and while not believing in as large a percentage of live burials as the radical advocates of cremation claim, yet we know that the percentage is larger than most scientists give. Disinterment is the only solution of the question. In regard to these two cases, we wish to say that science has proved that electricity does not always kill, and that persons addicted to the liquor habit, after long debauches, sometimes relapse into a comatose state, and are to all appearances dead. Statistics show that a great many die annually of these causes, hence the percentage in cases of this kind must be very large. What is the remedy?”
HASTY EMBALMMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Casket, Rochester, New York, September, 1896, observes:—At different times considerable opposition has been raised against embalming by Boards of Health and other officials in various localities, on account of the haste with which the embalmer proceeds with his duties. A few recent cases of supposed corpses recovering, one of which occurred in Philadelphia, Pa., have revived the question, and it is reported that the Philadelphia Board of Health may take action looking to the enactment of a law prescribing the period of time which should elapse after death before a body should be embalmed.
In a recent issue of the Philadelphia Times, Funeral-Director John J. O’Rourke, a well-known professional of that city, expresses himself on the subject as follows:—
“These two narrow escapes from burial alive have further impressed me with one of the perils attending the disposition of the dead—I mean the danger of hasty embalming. As you know, in most cases the doctor who has had the patient is not called in after death, and very often the relatives of the deceased expect the undertaker, if embalming is to be done, to proceed with it at once. All the embalming schools teach that the only proper way to thus treat the body is by use of fluids through the arteries. But in the lectures on the subject no period that should be permitted to elapse before it is begun is prescribed, and, as a rule, it follows dissolution as quickly as possible.
“I contend that there should be some law or official rule governing the matter, because after the artery is punctured and the fluid goes through the whole body, it is sure to destroy any spark of life that might remain. I have never met with any cases of resuscitation myself, but have had instances of deaths that made me hesitate in the work of embalming. Some months ago a man came to me fifteen minutes after a relative had breathed his last, and asked me to embalm the body. I went to the house, and, after seeing the corpse, refused, saying that I would not do it until after the expiration of twelve hours. The man had died of consumption, yet, for fear of it being a case of suspended animation, I would take no chances.
“At another time a person had died of dropsy. Within half an hour I was summoned. The attending physician had not been there, and twenty-four hours afterwards he gave a certificate of death from cancer. The body was very warm when I arrived, and neighbours who had kindly volunteered to prepare it were doubtful if life was extinct. I had the corpse laid on an embalming table for two hours, and then placed it in what is known as a Saratoga patent box, in which are pans filled with salted ice, so arranged that cold air circulates around the body. Had this been a case of suspended animation, it would have taken several hours to dispel the heat within the corpse.
“Of course there are some supposed unmistakable signs. The only positive signs of dissolution are those which depend on molecular change or death-rigidity of the muscles of the whole body, and putrefaction of the tissues. These are most marked in organs and tissues the vital functions of which are the most active. The action of the heart, the movements of respiration, may be reduced as to be altogether imperceptible, so that the functions of circulation and respiration appear to be arrested. This is occasionally observed in temporary syncope, in which a person to all appearances dead has, after a time, regained consciousness and recovered.
“The peculiar condition of the nervous system called catalepsy, and the state of trance, are likewise further examples of the so-called apparent deaths; but, on the occurrence of actual death, the irritability of the muscles by degrees disappears, electricity no longer excites their contraction, and then cadaverous rigidity sets in.... Some action will, in all probability, be urged upon the next Legislature or upon the Board of Health.”
[APPENDIX E.]
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES, ETC., RELATING TO THE INSPECTION OF CORPSES AND OF INTERMENTS.
In the sixteenth Council of Milan, Saint Charles Borromeo prohibited burials before twelve hours after ordinary cases of death, and twenty-four hours after cases of sudden death. As early as the sixteenth century serious attention in the examination of the dead was made obligatory by the enactment of Article 149 of the Criminal Statutes of Charles the Fifth. This was the foundation of legal medicine in Germany. In France, a similar ordinance was first established in 1789.
NETHERLANDS.
Act of April 10th, 1869.
No burial is allowed without the written permission of the Civil Recorder, granted upon the production of a certificate of a qualified physician, and not until thirty-six hours have elapsed after death, nor later than the fifth day after death. But this regulation can be set aside, and a longer period allowed, by the Burgomaster, on the application of a doctor.
Dead-houses are in use for bodies dead of infectious diseases.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.
Death must first be established by a licensed physician, who carefully examines the body for that purpose, and, if satisfied, then issues a certificate which states the name, age, sex, place, and date, and immediate cause of death. The certificate is taken within twenty-four hours after the death to the Standesamt, where the death is recorded, and a certificate to that effect is given, and presented to the Cemetery Commission, which assigns the place of burial. The corpse is required to remain unburied three days, either at the place of death or at the mortuary, where it is under the observation of attendants; but there is no State-appointed inspector of the dead, nor electric bells or other means for announcing and recording any movements of the body. The system of inspection and certification by qualified physicians, with the delay of three days, and the favourable condition of the dead-houses, have been the means of preventing the living from being mistaken for the dead in a number of cases.
FRANCE.
Interments must not take place, according to Article 77 of the Code Napoleon, before twenty-four hours of death, but in practice it is twenty-four hours after death-notification by the mort-verificateur. During epidemics, or when deaths occur from infectious or contagious diseases, the interments must invariably be made within twenty-four hours of death.
Article 77 of the Civil Code states that “No burial shall take place without an authorisation, on free paper and without expense, of the officer of the Civil State, who will not be empowered to deliver it, unless after having visited the deceased person, nor unless twenty-four hours after the decease, except in cases provided for by the regulations of the police.” It results from this that no corpse can be buried before a minimum delay of twenty-four hours shall have expired after the decease. The formal record of the decease must be made by the officer of the Civil State (the mayor), or, which is what takes place in most of the communes, by a medical man delegated by the mayor, and who takes the title of medical officer of the Civil State.
The Article 77 of the Civil Code is generally strictly observed in Paris and in other cities of France. The obligation to await the delay of twenty-four hours is intended to prevent too hasty burials. One considers, in fact, that that delay is generally necessary in order to be able to have certain proofs of death.
By Article 358 of the Penal Code, the burial of a deceased person without such authorisation is punishable by a maximum period of two months’ imprisonment, and a maximum fine of fifty francs, without prejudice to other criminal proceedings which may be applicable under the circumstances.
Exceptions, however, have been established in certain cases. For example, in times of epidemics, or of too rapid decomposition of the corpse in the usual case, there is urgent need, in fact, to bury the body of a person attacked with a contagious or epidemic malady, in order to suppress one of the causes of propagation of the epidemic, or of the contagion. In the second case, it is understood that one could not keep longer, without danger to the public health, a corpse in complete putrefaction. There is occasion also to observe that, in these circumstances, the end which the legislator has proposed to himself is equally obtained, since there cannot be any doubt as to the real death. However that may be, it is the mayor (officer of the Civil State) to whom it appertains, according to the terms of the Article 77 of the Civil Code, to give authority to bury; and if he gives that authorisation before the expiration of the delay of twenty-four hours, it is after having established by himself, or by the medical officer of the Civil State, the fact of its necessity, resulting from the circumstances of which we have just spoken.
It is to be remarked that the Article 77 fixes a minimum and not a maximum delay. It is always the mayor to whom it appertains to fix the day and the hour of the burial, and there may happen such and such a circumstance which necessitates a delay of the obsequies. The mayor need only assure himself in that case that no danger will result to the public health, which naturally is the case when the corpse is embalmed, or is placed in a leaden coffin.
Outside Paris and other large cities, and especially in the rural districts, much laxity prevails both as to verification of death and the time of burial, and cases of premature burial are not infrequent.
AUSTRIA.
The laws relative to funerals and burials are very strict—perhaps the most thorough in their requirements of any in Europe. They provide for a very careful inspection of the body by medical inspectors, quite independently of the attending physicians, in order to ascertain if the death be absolute. Minute and specific official directions guide them as to the method of examination and the signs of death to be looked for. And they further provide for carrying out any particular method, as to which the deceased may have given directions, in order to prevent a possible revival in the coffin. Should the surviving relatives desire it, a post-mortem operation may be made upon the body, in the presence of the medical inspectors and the police; in which case the heart is pierced through; and a full report of the operations must be forwarded to the civic magistrate. A fee of six florins is allowed for such an operation.
CITY OF VIENNA.
Every death to be inquired into by the municipal physician. The first of five objects is to ascertain whether the person be really dead. In examining whether there are any remaining indications of life, he will rely not upon any one sign, nor even upon putrefaction, but upon the totality of the signs of death. If there are any indications of life remaining, he must at once institute the means of resuscitation approved by science, and continue them until such time as the family medical attendant is assured of their uselessness. If there be any doubt as to the reality of the death, a second inspection of the body is to be made by the municipal physician within twenty-four hours. Burial, as a rule, is not to be until forty-eight hours after death; but the interval may be shortened in cases of infectious diseases or of unusually rapid decomposition.
PROVINCE OF DALMATIA.
Vice-Governor’s Order of 29th April, 1894.
Every death to be inquired into by the parish physician, or a deputy appointed by the mayor. The first of six objects of the inquest is to ascertain whether the person be really dead. In the event of a non-medical examiner discovering signs of life, he is to send for a doctor. Inasmuch as decomposition, the only sure sign of death, is, as a rule, a phenomenon of later occurrence than the time appointed for the inquest (within twelve hours of the notification of death), the examining person must base his certainty of the extinction of life, not upon one sign, but upon the totality of the signs of death.
KINGDOM OF SAXONY.
Law of 20th July, 1850.
The burial of a corpse must not take place until seventy-two hours after death, and the signs of decomposition are clearly visible. Any proposed departure from this rule, in the event of earlier putrefaction, or the absence of decomposition at the end of seventy-two hours, requires the authority of a physician called in. By the above Law, the following Orders are suspended: (1) the Order of 11th February, 1792, concerning the treatment of the dead, and the precautions necessary to prevent the apparently dead from being buried prematurely; (2) the General Order of 13th February, 1801, concerning precautionary measures in the burial of those dead of infectious diseases; (3) the Law of 22nd June, 1841, together with the Administrative Orders, concerning the examination of corpses and the establishment of mortuaries.
CITY OF MUNICH.
Order of 30th October, 1848.
The ordinance hitherto in force, as to making an incision in the sole of the foot in cases of patients who die in the hospitals, is abolished; the hospital physicians to use their discretion whether or not the incision should be made; but, in cases for which is demanded an earlier burial than is usually prescribed, whether they have been hospital or private patients, the incision is to be made in the sole of the foot at the end of the second inspection, and every other means taken to ascertain whether the death be apparent or real.
CALCUTTA.
1. The prevailing custom for Christians and Mahomedans is to bury the dead. The Hindoos burn them as a rule, but many prefer to throw them into a sacred river, particularly the Ganges or its tributaries, if they can do so unmolested by the authorities.
2. There are no mortuaries. The signs which are assumed to indicate death are the various conditions and appearances when animation is suspended.
3. Cases of revival from supposed death are sometimes heard of among the Hindoos, who regard such persons as outcasts. If the signs of returning life are not very manifest when a person begins to revive, he is sometimes killed by stuffing the mouth and nose with mud, which generally accomplishes the object.
BOMBAY.
1. There are no laws or regulations in India for the disposal of the dead. The customs and formalities follow the traditions and requirements of religious belief.
a. The Hindoos burn their dead immediately after death takes place.
b. The Parsees take their dead to a “Tower of Silence” as soon as death takes place, and, after certain prescribed ceremonies, the body is speedily devoured by vultures.
c. The Europeans and Mahomedans bury their dead within from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, because putrefaction usually sets in soon after death on account of the heat and humidity of the climate.
2. There are no mortuaries, excepting in connection with hospitals, where observations can be made.
CAPE TOWN, AFRICA.
1. There are no laws nor regulations relative to the disposal of the dead, excepting in cases requiring an inquest or post-mortem examination. The custom is to bury within twenty-four to thirty hours after death, but the time is sometimes extended to two or three days.
2. There are no dead-houses, except at the hospitals, which are under the management of the superintendent.
3. The certificate of the medical attendant is sufficient for burial purposes. The complete cessation of respiration and the heart’s action are considered an absolute indication of death. When decomposition sets in, it usually appears within twenty-four hours after death, although in winter that process may be longer delayed.
MOSCOW.
Orthodox Russians keep their dead three days before burial. During that time the body lies with the face uncovered, and a deacon chants and prays over it twice a day. A medical certificate of death is imperative before burial.
BRUSSELS.
Burials are regulated by the Communal Council in accordance with law. The system is complicated, but thorough. The medical men connected with the Government Medical Service (“Doctors of the Civil Government”) have the sole control of the examinations of deaths, as well as births, accidents, sudden deaths, suicides; and attend to burials, autopsies, postponements of burials, etc., on their own motion. Interments usually take place within forty-eight hours of death, but they may be carried out sooner during epidemics for the public safety.
There are mortuaries in the city and suburbs, to which bodies may be taken at the request of surviving relatives, or by the order of the health authorities, according to private necessities or for the public safety. Except by the special authorisation of the officers of the civil government, bodies cannot remain in the mortuaries longer than forty-eight hours; and a burial cannot take place in less than twenty-four hours. Special care is taken to test the reality of death in still-born infants, and efforts are made to revive them, as well as all other cases of seeming death. In cases of women dying during advanced pregnancy, the infant must be roused by artificial respiration, in order to restore animation if possible. The process for obtaining a delay for burial is intricate and cumbersome, and to a foreigner unaccustomed to the language and the local usages the chances would be against securing such a permit before the time allowed for burial had transpired.
DENMARK.
Mortuaries are connected with all the churches, cemeteries, and some of the hospitals, and are growing in favour in the country places; but as yet they are unprovided with any appliances for the resuscitation of the apparently dead, or for the prevention of premature burials. No corpse, however, is allowed to be taken to a mortuary before it has been inspected, and a death-certificate issued by a qualified physician; but, when this is done, death is considered absolute. No corpse is allowed to remain in any church, chapel, or mortuary longer than seven days after supposed death, without special permission. Coffins that contain bodies which have died from infectious diseases must be so indicated, and cannot be opened in the mortuaries.
As a rule, bodies are kept seventy-two hours before burial. The signs that are considered sufficient to establish death are the glazed appearance of the eyes, livid spots on the skin, and muscular rigidity. In doubtful cases, the time before burial can be extended by authority of the Board of Health, of which the Police Director is a member.
SPAIN.
Burials usually do not take place until twenty-four hours after death. For example, if a death takes place about four p.m., the burial is made late in the following afternoon. In time of epidemic, bodies are hurried to the cemeteries, where depositories are provided, which are under the care of watchers until the expiration of twenty-four hours after death. The certificate of a reputable physician as to death is sufficient to authorise burial. Relatives or friends usually remain with the body until burial, excepting in cases when judicial proceedings are held over it to determine the circumstances of the death.
IRELAND.
There are no laws in Ireland regarding the disposal of the dead, but the Sanitary Acts of the United Kingdom can be applied in any case within a reasonable period, on the ground of public health. There is no fixed period for keeping a body before burial. The Roman Catholics usually bury on the third or fourth day after death; but in some districts custom sanctions burial within twenty-four or thirty-six hours. Local burial authorities sometimes require a medical certificate before burial, but, there being no legal obligation for it, this is often omitted. In cases of suicide, sudden death, or death by violence, the Coroner holds an inquest, and gives a certificate accordingly.
There are no dead-houses in Ireland, where bodies may be observed for a period of time before burial.
Concerning burials in England, see Glen’s “Burial Acts” for the general burial practice; also “Regulations for Wilton Cemetery.”
THE UNITED STATES.
In the United States of America, as a rule, everything relative to the disposal of the dead is regulated by local Boards of Health, as authorised by State laws. A burial cannot take place without a certificate from a legally licensed physician, which must state the cause of death; the place and time when it occurred; the full name; age; sex; colour; occupation; birth-place; names and birth-places of both parents. There are no laws or regulations that require the inspection of the body to verify the fact of death (the certificate, as in England, as to the cause is considered sufficient for this purpose), and no time is fixed when a body must, or must not, be buried. This is regulated by, and left to, the convenience of the family of the deceased, by the season of the year, by the opinion of the attending physician, etc. But the Health Officers can order the burial whenever, in their opinion, the public health requires it. As a rule, burials after supposed death are made sooner in the South, and among the poor, than in the North, and among the well-to-do classes. In remote unsettled regions burials not seldom take place without these formalities, and they are often carried out in a hasty manner; but usually they do not take place till three days after supposed death, and sometimes, particularly in cold weather, a longer time is allowed. All large cemeteries have chambers for the temporary deposit of bodies, but they are not under observation, as it is taken for granted that they are dead.
[APPENDIX F.]
THE JEWISH PRACTICE OF EARLY BURIAL.
R. J. Wunderbar, in his standard work on “Biblisch-talmudische Medicin,” Riga and Leipzig, 1850-60, gives, in pp. 5-15 of the concluding section (Abtheil. 4, Bd. ii.), the following summary of the origin of the peculiar Jewish practice of burying the corpse within a few hours of death:—
In the Levitical law (Num. xix. 11-22) every dead body was an unclean thing, including those dead in the tent and on the battlefield. Touching a corpse involved purification and separation for seven days. This ordinance is supposed to have had a sanitary motive, having probably originated with cases of infectious disease. There is only one Biblical ordinance as to early burial, and that is indubitably restricted to persons executed for crime: Deut. xxi. 22, 23, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is accursed of God), that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”This statutory limit to the exposure of the bodies of malefactors was the most convenient way of checking the practice, common in other countries, of leaving corpses of criminals to hang upon the gibbet until they rotted, or were consumed by birds of prey. Its motive was to prevent, by the promptest measure, an indefinite degree of neglect in altogether special cases.
There is nothing else in the Bible concerning early burial; on the contrary, the patriarchal practice, in the case of eminent persons, seems to have been to keep the body for a considerable time above ground, after the manner of Egypt. Prior to the Babylonian exile there is not a trace of the later practice of speedy burial. The post-Talmudic custom had arisen entirely from a misunderstanding. It is true that the Talmud enjoins that corpses—according to circumstances—be kept unburied not longer than one day; but it also permits them to lie above ground for days, so that elaborate funeral preparations might be made, or time given for mourners to arrive from a distance. Lastly, the Talmud relates the burial of one apparently dead who revived and lived for twenty-five years, and begat five children; whereupon a rabbinical ordinance was made that the corpse (which would have been laid in a vault or in a tomb above ground) should be visited diligently until three days after death. (The references to the Talmud are: Semachoth 8; Moedkaton 1, 6; Sabbat 151, 152; Sanhedrin 46a.)
Wunderbar admits that there had been cases of premature burial among the Jews, but he asserts their extreme rarity, and doubts the authenticity of most of the traditional or historical cases in general.
In Jewish circles in Germany towards the end of last century there was much controversy as to the inexpediency of the practice of early burial. In the “Berlinische Monatschrift” for April, 1787, p. 329, (cited by Marcus Herz, “Ueber die frühe Beerdigung der Juden,” Berlin, 1788, p. 6,) there is printed a letter from Moses Mendelssohn to the Jews of Mecklenburg, in which he advises them to keep their dead unburied for three days. “I know well,” he adds, “that you will not follow my advice; for the might of custom is great. Nay, I shall perhaps appear to you as a heretic on account of my counsel. All the same, I have freed my conscience from guilt.”
The above-cited essay by Dr. Marcus Herz, of Berlin, arguing against the Jewish practice, called forth a reply by Dr. Marx, of Hanover, who was of opinion that the burial might safely proceed after the body had been left on the bed for three hours, and had then been pronounced lifeless by the medical attendant, according to the practice in that part of the country. To that Dr. Herz rejoined, in a second edition, that the medical attendant was no better judge than an ordinary man, inasmuch as all experimental tests were fallacious, and decomposition the only sure sign. He cites the following statement by an experienced Jewish physician, Dr. Hirschberg, of Königsberg (from the Jewish periodical, “Sammler,” vol. ii., p. 153):—“I have practised medicine for forty years, and have always grieved over the practice amongst us of too hasty burial of the dead—on the day of decease. It happened once in my practice that a woman lay for dead three days and then awoke and revived. At first I would not allow the body to be moved from the bed, but the undertaker’s men violently resisted me, taking up the body and laying it on the ground. According to their custom, they would have buried it the same day, had I not earnestly called out to them: ‘Beware lest you do lay her in the ground this day! She is still alive, and the blame will be on you.’ I had her covered with warm, woollen clothes; on the following morning some signs of life were manifest; she lay still, and gradually awoke out of her death-slumber.”
Herz declared, as Wunderbar did subsequently, that the passages in the Talmud on which the Jewish custom was based had been misinterpreted; and he specially accused the rabbis Jacob Emden, of Altona, and Ezechel, of Prague, of rabbinical subtilty on the one hand, and of a fallacious dependence upon scientific signs of death on the other.
At the World’s Medical Congress (Division of Eclectic Medicine), held in Chicago, June 3, 1893, the following resolution was proposed by Dr. John V. Stevens, and adopted:—
“Whereas we believe that many persons in the past, in the condition simulating death from various causes, have been buried alive; therefore,
“Resolved—That it should be the duty of all Governments to pass laws prohibiting the burial of bodies without positive proofs of death; that the nature of these proofs should be taught in all schools and printed in all newspapers throughout the world.”