The Spectator, October 11, 1895, publishes particulars of a recent case of recovery, after three days’ interment, in Ireland. See pp. 111, 112 in this volume.
Köppen’s investigations led him to observe that—“Human life may appear to come to a stop, and no one can say it will not go on again, if time enough is allowed for it to do so. This even the most learned in medicine cannot explain away or deny; and the greatest precaution should be taken before death is declared to exist.”
CHAPTER XV.
THE TREATMENT OF THE DEAD.
The following extracts from French, English, and American authorities, who have made the subject of premature burial one of patient research, show how the dead, or apparently dead, were treated in their respective countries at the time they wrote, and when no reforms had been instituted. Buffon, who wrote more than a century ago, said:—“Life often very nearly resembles death. Neither ten, nor twenty, nor twenty-four hours are sufficient to distinguish real from apparent death. There are instances of persons who have been alive in the grave at the end of the second, and even the third day. Why, then, suffer to be interred so soon those whose lives we ardently wished to prolong? Most savages pay more attention to deceased friends and relatives, and regard as the first duty what is but a ceremony with us. Savages respect their dead, clothe them, speak to them, recite their exploits, extol their virtues; while we, who pique ourselves on our feelings, do not show common humanity; we forsake and fly from our dead. We have neither courage to look upon or speak to them; we avoid every place which can recall their memory.”
In his “History of the Modes of Interment among Different Nations,” pp. 191-193, Mr. G. A. Walker, surgeon, quotes the following observations, as deserving consideration on the subject of premature interment:—“On many occasions, in all places, too much precipitation attends this last office; or, if not precipitation, a neglect of due precautions in regard to the body in general; indeed, the most improper treatment that can be imagined is adopted, and many a person is made to descend into the grave before he has sighed his last breath. Ancient and modern authors leave us no doubt respecting the dangers or misconduct of such precipitation. It must appear astonishing that the attention of mankind has been, after all, so little aroused by an idea the most terrible that can be conceived on this side eternity. According to present usage, as soon as the semblance of death appears, the chamber of the sick is deserted by friends, relatives, and physicians; and the apparently dead, though frequently living, body is committed to the management of an ignorant and unfeeling nurse, whose care extends no further than laying the limbs straight, and securing her accustomed perquisites. The bed-clothes are immediately removed, and the body is exposed to the air. This, when cold, must extinguish any spark of life that may remain, and which, by a different treatment, might have been kindled into flame; or it may only continue to repress it, and the unhappy person afterwards revive amidst the horrors of the tomb.
“The difference between the end of a weak life and the commencement of death is so small, and the uncertainty of the signs of the latter is so well established, that we can scarcely suppose undertakers capable of distinguishing an apparent from a real death. Animals which sleep in the winter show no signs of life. In this case, circulation is only suspended; but were it annihilated, the vital spark does not so easily lose its action as the fluids of the body, and the principle of life, which long survives the appearance of death, may re-animate a body in which the action of all the organs seems to be at an end. But how difficult it is to determine whether this principle may not be revived.... Coldness, heaviness of the body, a leaden, livid colour, with a yellowness in the visage, are all very uncertain signs. M. Zimmermann observed them all upon the body of a criminal, who fainted through dread of that punishment which he had merited. He was shaken, dragged about, and turned in the same manner as dead bodies are, without the least signs of resistance, and yet, at the end of twenty-four hours, he was recalled to life by means of the volatile alkali.” Mr. Walker’s history was written nearly sixty years ago, but the custom he deprecates still continues.
IN THE UNITED STATES.