In the province of Quebec no interment is permitted within twenty-four hours, and the Jews reconcile themselves to this delay, which, however, is far too brief to ensure safety.
It will be said that the danger referred to is not so imminent in the United Kingdom as in France, Spain, Portugal, or even in the United States, owing to the existence of a more temperate climate, and the longer period allowed for burial. This may be so and yet the danger be considerable. It must be remembered that in the rural districts nothing in the shape of examination to establish the fact of death is practised; while in certain parts of Cornwall, throughout the greater part of agricultural Ireland, amongst the Jews in all cities and towns, as well as those who in all places are certified as dead of cholera, small-pox, and other infectious and epidemic diseases, burial often follows certified death quite as quickly as in the Continental States before mentioned. In all the public resorts on the Continent the hotel-keepers, through an insensate fear of death and the injury which the possession of “a corpse,” dead or alive, may do to their business, have them coffined and disposed of, particularly in the night, within a few hours of their supposed death. Dr. D. de Lignières, in “Pour ne pas être Enterré Vivant,” Paris, 1893, says he has known of burials under such circumstances six hours after death. This author says that these scandalous homicidal acts are of every-day occurrence, and that the rapacious landlords have no difficulty in obtaining certificates of death from the accommodating mort verificateurs. Every one who visits the hôtels des villes d’eaux, des stations balnéaires, may verify (he says) the truth of this statement for himself. In short, these are willing disciples of the “Latest Decalogue”:—
“Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive
Officiously to keep alive.”
CHAPTER XI.
FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
Many of those who are most familiar with the phenomena of life and death, including celebrated physicians, men of science, and clergymen, knowing that all the ordinary signs of death (referred to in another chapter) have, in practice, sometimes proved delusive, have been a prey to the suspicion that a fatal mistake is possible in their own case. They have, therefore, left precise instructions in their wills for various preventives which experience has shown to be necessary, and in some instances a combination of these, so as to make doubly sure that they shall not be subjected, like thousands of human beings, to the unspeakable horrors of being buried alive.
Mr. Horace Welby, in his volume entitled “Mysteries of Life, Death, and Futurity,” 1861, under the head of “Premature Interment,” p. 114, says:—“How prevalent is the fear of being buried alive may be gathered from the number of instances in which men have requested that, before the last offices are done for them, such wounds or mutilations should be inflicted upon their bodies as would effectually prevent the possibility of an awakening in the tomb. Dr. Dibdin relates that Francis Douce, the antiquary, requested, in his will, that Sir Anthony Carlisle, the surgeon, should sever his head from his body, or take out his heart, to prevent the return of vitality; and his co-residuary legatee, Mr. Kerrick, has also requested the same operation to be performed in the presence of his son.”
Bishop Berkeley, Daniel O’Connell, and the late Lord Lytton entertained similar apprehensions. Wilkie Collins had a like fear, for he always left on his dressing-table a letter in which he solemnly enjoined his people that, if he were found dead in the morning, he should at once be carefully examined by a doctor. Hans Christian Andersen had a similar dread, and carried in his pocket a note to the effect that, when the time came, his friends were to make sure that he was really dead before burial. Harriet Martineau left her doctor ten pounds to see that her head was amputated before burial. The dread of being buried alive dictated a clause in the will of the distinguished actress, the late Miss Ada Cavendish, for the severance of the jugular vein; and prompted the late Mr. Edmund Yates to leave similar instructions, with the provision that a fee of twenty guineas should be paid for the operation, which was carried out. Mr. John Rose, of New York, who died in November, 1895, made known his earnest desire that his coffin should not be closed, but laid in the family vault at Roseton, and guarded day and night by two caretakers, who were instructed to watch for signs of reanimation.