SUSPENDED ANIMATION AND PREMATURE BURIAL.
Facts of Startling Import.—The Case of Washington Irving Bishop.—Other Instances of Suspended Animation.—Vampirism.—Catalepsy.—East Indian Fakirs buried alive for Months.—Fundamental Errors.—Catalepsy not a Disease.—A Recuperative Agent.—The Law of Suggestion governs the Phenomena.—Subjective Insensibility impossible.—Suggestion of Death deepens the Lethargy.—The Appalling Dangers of Catalepsy.—The Proper Treatment.
There is another psychic phenomenon which deserves a passing notice at our hands, not only because it is governed by the same laws which have been discussed, but because it is a matter of transcendent practical interest and importance. I refer to the subject of suspended animation, and consequent premature burial.
I know of but one physician in this country who has given serious attention to this subject. Nothing in authoritative form has yet appeared from his pen, but I am credibly informed that he has collected an array of facts of veritable significance. One assertion of startling import is that in the United States an average of not less than one case a week is discovered and reported. This statement alone attests the importance of the subject, although due allowance must be made for possible exaggeration. Be that as it may, the appalling possibility of premature burial as a result of a condition so common as catalepsy, the psychic aspects of which are so little understood in this country, invests the subject with more than ordinary interest.
The following cases have been personally investigated by the writer, and serve to illustrate the dangers which menace the cataleptic subject. Names are omitted, at the request of the parties interested.
The first case is that of a young lady, near Indianapolis, who came to life after fourteen days of suspended animation. Six doctors had applied the usual tests, and pronounced her dead. Her little brother clung to her, against the opinion of the doctors and the will of the parents, and frantically declared that she was not dead. In the excitement the bandage which held her jaw in place was accidentally pushed aside. The jaw fell, and the brother fancied that he saw his sister's tongue moving slowly.
"What do you want, sister?" cried the little fellow.
"Water," was the faint answer from the supposed corpse.