“In actual death the body gradually gets colder, beginning with the exposed limbs, and in from ten to sixteen hours the body will be quite cold. The colour of the face becomes ashy pale, and the lips discoloured. The eye loses its brilliancy, and is usually dulled by a covering of dried mucus.
“If all the foregoing symptoms are exhibited, and particularly if the deceased was of an advanced age, or if the death was caused by severe or long illness, which led to the expectation of a fatal result, the fact of death may be safely assumed.
“But, on the other hand, if part of these symptoms are missing, or in cases of pregnancy, or exhaustion in consequence of flooding after confinement, or if death occurs under fits, or in violent outbursts of passion, the possibility of counterfeit-death is to be taken for granted.
“Notwithstanding the existence of all the symptoms (signs of death) before mentioned, the possibility of apparent death is not excluded in cases where the death has occurred after syncope, tetanus, suffocation, or in cases of drowning, stroke of lightning, or from a severe fall, or from frost, or in still-born children.”
After detailing instructions as to a variety of experiments to ascertain whether the death is actual or apparent, this Royal Decree proceeds:—
“Section viii.—These experiments may, however, not give absolute certainty as to the complete extinction of all life. If, therefore, the slightest doubt remains as to the reality of death, the inspector is to take the necessary precautions for the protection of the deceased, by frequent inspections, and the most careful examinations, and to obtain the assistance of the nearest physician or surgeon, who is to co-operate with him to promote resuscitation. If these attempts prove abortive, he must see that nothing is done which would be detrimental to reanimation, or resumption of life.”
Then follow minute instructions how to proceed under the varied circumstances which may have produced the symptoms known as apparent death. In no case must the burial certificate be handed over by the inspector until he has thoroughly satisfied himself of the presence of unmistakable signs of actual death.
One cannot help contrasting these carefully considered rules with the lax and haphazard methods of dealing with the dead and apparent dead both in England and in the United States. As a consequence, cases of premature burial in Würtemburg are of very rare occurrence, and sensible people in that country, knowing that the danger of premature burial has been reduced to a minimum, are not consumed by an ever-abiding anxiety as with us, nor is it the custom for testators in Würtemburg to give instructions to their executors for piercing the heart or severing the jugular vein, or some other form of mutilation, as in France, Spain, and other countries, where the risks are so terribly great.
The only case of the danger of premature burial that has come to the author’s notice in Würtemburg is related by Bouchut, in his “Signes de la Mort,” p. 48:—
IN WÜRTEMBURG.