The difficulty of diagnosis in many cases being allowed renders the obligation and necessity for a radical change in our methods of treating the supposed dead a very urgent one. Medical writers, whilst admitting the unsatisfactory nature of the current practice of medical certification, allege that the remedy lies with Parliament to make compulsory a personal medical inspection of the dead, and to allow a fee as compensation for the trouble. This, however, would be very far from meeting the difficulty. How many general practitioners would be willing to submit half-a-dozen, say, of the eleven tests of death formulated by Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, in any given case, and if willing, how many, having regard to the fact that these tests are not taught in the Medical Schools, and form no part of the usual medical curriculum, would be competent to make them with the requisite skill? In most of the Continental States there are State-appointed surgeons to examine the dead, médécins vérificateurs, and in some of these—Würtemburg, for instance—the official is obliged to examine the corpse several times before his certificate is made out. But notwithstanding this careful official inspection, cases of premature burial and narrow escapes are telegraphed by Reuter and Dalziel every now and then to the English Press, as we have seen, and additional details, with the names and addresses of the victims, are furnished by responsible special correspondents.
CONFUSION OF MEDICAL OPINIONS.
The best proof that one can give of the uncertainty of the signs of death is the great divergence of opinion amongst medical experts. Dr. Gannal, in “Signes de la Mort,” Paris, 1890, p. 27, observes:—“If any of these signs had presented characters of absolute certainty, it is unquestionable that the unanimity of authors would have recognised it; now, there is none. One sign held to be good by some, is declared bad by others.” Dr. Gannal affirms with iteration that there is only one unequivocal sign and proof of dissolution—decomposition. All authorities agree that whatever degree of doubt attends the ordinary appearances of death, none dispute that this amounts to a demonstration.
When standing round the bed of a sick patient, reduced to a state of coma or suspended animation, to which death is the expected termination, as soon as the doctor utters the fatal words “all is over,” no one present thinks of doubting the verdict, or putting it to the test. Mr. Clarke Irvine, who has had a wide experience, writing in the Banner of Light, December 14, 1895, Boston, U.S., says:—
“I have known of hundreds of deaths in my experience, and never have I known of any instance wherein a bystander has doubted save once, and then the person supposed dead was revived, and is now living out in Colorado. The mere accident of a stranger coming in just previous to the enclosing in a coffin prevented the man from the awful fate of burial alive, so far as we can see.
“In one other, the supposed dead man came to life a little before the time set for his funeral, by the accident of some one seizing hold of his foot: he is still living, and a resident of this country. The case was widely published in the newspapers after he was interviewed by a reporter in Chicago, where the rescued man was visiting at the time of the great Fair. He is known as Judge William Poynter. I saw him a few days ago, and have heard him relate the experience.
“The case of the little girl who was rescued while the funeral was in progress, at St. Joseph, Missouri, I have already contributed to The Banner. These people were saved by a mere chance; how many have passed underground forever, of whom nothing was ever suspected! All through the country, people are dying or apparently dying, or falling into death-like trances daily, and being placed in their coffins as a matter of course, and hurried to and into their graves, as of course also—and in the very nature of things it must be and must have been that hundreds upon hundreds have been and are being consigned to that most awful of all the dooms possible. The horror of the thing is simply unspeakable.”
OFFICIAL REGULATIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF PREMATURE INTERMENT IN BAVARIA.
BAVARIAN REGULATIONS.
The following are extracts from the Police Regulations for the inspection of the dead, and the prevention of premature burial in Bavaria, and issued by the Royal State-Ministry for Home affairs:—