Several surprising instances of the recovery of persons supposed to be dead, even of the plague, are given by Fabricius Hildanus; to one of which Dr. Fothergill seems to allude in the above quotation. Hildanus relates, that in the year 1357, when the plague raged violently at Cologne, a certain noble lady, by name Reichmuth Adoleh, being seized with the disease, was thought to have died, and was buried accordingly. Her husband, out of affection, would not take off her wedding ring, which she happened to have on her finger. The undertakers being acquainted with this circumstance, next night came to the church where she was buried, opened the sepulchre, and prepared to take off the ring; when to their utter astonishment she began to raise herself up in the coffin. Struck with consternation they fled in the utmost haste, leaving to the fortunate lady the lantern with which they lighted themselves to the church, and by means of which she now found out where she was, and after being come to herself, returned to her own house. Here being known by her voice, and the ring she wore, she found admittance, and by means of a generous diet gradually regained her health; bringing her husband afterwards three children, and surviving the accident many years.
A second instance no less remarkable is of a woman of the name of Nicolle Lentille, who, being supposed dead of the plague, had been thrown into a pit with a great number of the bodies of others, dead of the same distemper. After lying there a whole night, she came to herself in the morning, but neither knew at first where she was, nor, when she did, could she find any means of escaping, or extricating herself from the heap of dead bodies with which she was oppressed. Being at a distance from any house, her cries were of no avail, and, in the mean time, having taken no nourishment for four days, she was so tormented with hunger that she eat part of the cloth which covered her face. At last, after remaining twenty-four hours in this dreadful situation, the pit being opened to bury some other person, she exerted her utmost endeavours in calling for assistance, and at last was heard by those who stood round. Being taken up and brought home, she presently recovered, and lived several years after.
A third example is given by our author of one who, being carried to a church to be buried, had his face previously sprinkled with holy water by a priest. But this was no sooner done than he shuddered and opened his eyes in a fright; on which he was carried home, recovered, and lived eight years after. Other examples might be brought, but these are sufficient to show what dreadful accidents may ensue from early burials, and how cautious people ought to be in consigning their friends and relations to the dust from whence they were taken.
[46] Dr. Gardiner, in his observations above quoted, gives the following curious anecdote. “An unmarried lady, of a healthy constitution, has such a peculiarity in the structure of her nerves, that, though she can, in general, bear strong odours as well as most people, yet she cannot suffer a rose to be in her bosom, or to hold it in her hand a few minutes, without becoming faint, and having an inclination to vomit. Conserve of roses, rose-water, and similar articles made from roses, have more powerful effects upon her, and usually excite vomiting. Going into a room where any of her companions are washing with rose-water, never fails to produce this effect; nor does she recover of her indisposition in less than two hours.”
[47] This certainly does not hold good if we suppose the heat of the atmosphere to be indicated by a thermometer; for we are assured that animals can live in a heat much superior to that which raises the mercury to 97.
[48] The discoveries of modern chemists have determined that the aerial fluid, termed fixed air or carbonic acid, and which is nearly the same with the vapour arising from fermenting liquor, and is also largely contained in the fume of burning charcoal, is not a simple but a compound substance; one part consisting of the pure part of the atmosphere, or oxygene, the other of real charcoal. The proportions, according to M. Chaptal, are 12,0288 parts of charcoal to 56,687 of oxygen.
[49] The name of the vessels by which the heart itself is supplied with blood. These come from the aorta by the circuitous way of the lungs.
[50] But there is a still more egregious blunder, and this the more surprising as it has been very general among physiologists, viz. that when an artery branches into two the capacity of the branches taken together is greater than that of the trunk. This would make the whole arterial system one continued aneurism,[51] and, instead of promoting the circulation of the blood, would in the most effectual manner prevent it. In what manner an error so extraordinary in its nature could pass the mathematical physicians of the last century, I cannot imagine; but certain it is, that, in the year 1780 or 1781, the Edinburgh College were schooled on this subject by one of their own students named John Theodore Vander Kemp, a Dutchman. This gentleman found, by accurate mensuration, that when an artery divides, if the diameters of the two branches are made the two shorter sides of a right-angled triangle, the diameter of the trunk will be the hypothenuse; and thus, as the areas of circles are to one another in proportion to the squares of their diameters, the sum of the areas of the two branches will be equal to the area of the trunk. On looking into Blumenbach’s physiology, I find the same remark.
[51] An aneurism is a preternatural enlargement of an artery. The blood stagnates in that place, and at length eats through the flesh and skin.
[52] It seems now to be proved beyond a doubt that this something so long unknown is that fluid called by Dr. Priestley dephlogisticated air, and by Lavoisier oxygen.