M. Josat, in “De la Mort et de ses Caractères,” gives the result of his own observations in one hundred and sixty-two instances, in which apparent death lasted—
| In | 7 | from | 36 | to | 42 | hours. |
| 20 | ” | 20 | to | 36 | ” | |
| 47 | ” | 15 | to | 20 | ” | |
| 58 | ” | 8 | to | 15 | ” | |
| 30 | ” | 2 | to | 8 | ” |
The order of frequency of diseases in which these occurred was as follows:—Asphyxia, hysteria, apoplexy, narcotism, concussion of the brain, the cases of concussion being the shortest.
The length of time a person may live in the grave will depend upon similar concomitant conditions; but all things considered, a person buried while in a state of trance, catalepsy, asphyxia, narcotism, nervous shock, etc., and in any of the other states that cause apparent death without passing through a course of disease, and that occur during his or her usual health, will have a longer struggle before life becomes extinct than one whose strength had been exhausted by an attack of sickness. Estimates of the duration of such a struggle differ considerably. Some writers believe that “however intense, it must be short-lived.” As to the prolongation of the horrible suffering incident to such tragic occurrences, Dr. Léonce Lénormand, in his “Des Inhumations Précipitées,” pp. 2-4, observes—“It is a mistake to think that a living person, enclosed in a narrow box, and covered with several feet of earth, would succumb to immediate asphyxiation.”[16]
Dr. Charles Londe, in his “La Mort Apparent,” remarks:—“It has been calculated that, after one quarter of the quantity of atmospheric air contained in the coffin—approximately estimated at one hundred and twenty litres—was exhausted, death would set in; therefore, it is quite certain that, if the shroud is thick, and the coffin well closed, and the grave impenetrable to the atmosphere, life could not last more than forty to sixty minutes after inhumation. But is not that a century of torture?”
Some allowance should be made for the persistence of the vital energy, which continues after all atmospheric air is cut off. “Experiments on dogs show that the average duration of the respiratory movements after the animal has been deprived of air is four minutes five seconds. The duration of the heart’s action is seven minutes eleven seconds. The average of the heart’s action after the animal has ceased to make respiratory efforts is three minutes fifteen seconds. These experiments further showed that a dog may be deprived of air during three minutes fifty seconds, and afterwards recover without the application of artificial means.”[17]
PERSISTENCE OF LIFE.
Prof. P. Brouardel, M.D., Paris, in “La Morte Subité,” p. 35, observes that:—“A dog, placed in a common coffin, lived five to six hours; but a dog occupies less room than a man, who, in such a coffin, when closed, would not have more than one hundred litres, so he would possibly live twenty minutes. I would not wish anybody to pass twenty such cruel minutes.”
“Mr. Bernard, a skilful surgeon of Paris, certified that, in the parish of Riol, he himself, and several other bystanders, saw a monk of the Order of St. Francis, who had been buried for three or four days, taken from his grave breathing and alive, with his arms lacerated near the swathes employed to secure them; but he died immediately after his releasement. This gentleman also asserts that a faithful narrative of so memorable an accident was drawn up by public authority, and that the raising of the body was occasioned by a letter written from one of the monk’s friends, in which it was affirmed that he was subject to paroxysms of catalepsy.”—The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death, by Surgeon M. Cooper. Dublin, 1748.
In a volume, entitled “Information Relative to Persons who have been Buried Alive,” by Heinrich Friedrich Köppen, Halle, 1799, dedicated to Frederick William III., King of Prussia, and Louise, Queen of Prussia, are the nine following amongst many other cases:—