The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1839-10-29
MISCELLANEOUS.

Dy every one at the IGea OF DelnS buried awe,
and many strange methods have been adopted,
to prevent SO horrible an event. Among the
most singular, and at the same time the most
certain, was that adopted by old Grimaldi, viz,
decapitation, which he ordered to be performed
after apparent death had taken place. Many
are content with having an incision made toe,
or finger cut off, &c., but recent communica.
ton, read at meeting of the Royal Academy
of Medicine in Paris, would lead us to doubt the
efficacy of such measure, while, at the same
time, it gives us fearful idea Of the extent to
which the burying alive has been carried on Ia
France ; for which, indeed, reasoning priori,
we should have been already prepared, from
the rapidity with which the interment is effect
ed, after death has apparently seized his victim.
Twenty four hours is, we believeethe usual pc
riod allowed for the body to remain above
ground, and we have heard Of case which oc-
Cured within the last two years, in which
lady, while in a trance, was twice ordered to be
buried by the French authorities. From each
Of these frances, however, she recovered vi.
Bourgeois, in the paper alluded to, stat that
when the Cemetery OF the lnnocents made
market, bodies were found in such extraordi
nary attitudes, that it was evident that they had
not been so placed originally land that their pos
tion must have been assumed by the body after
interment. Others yet more marked, presented
with all the indications of restored conscious
ness, those also of posthunous death, if we
may Use such phrase. In Germany it is usu-
try under the care of the sexton; with n bell
rope in the hand, for twenty -four hours before
nterment but this has not always prevented
the happening of so fearful an occurrence. In
fact, there is not any positive nfallible sign of
death, save general decomposition neither
GOODNESS of the body, rg;dlty of the muscles,
thickening of the vitreous humor of the eyeball,
&c. can be relied Burning with wax, or
scading with boiling water, or making ncis.
ions, without producing any effect, moi
T.. IT, a..
demonstrated the insensbty of the skin to
such injuries in many complaints attended with
trance, or even i'm simple epileptic fit. In ev
cry case of apparent sudden death, even if the
body be cold, attempts should be made to re-
store animation. An extraordinary proof of the
utility Of such measure occurred to the cele-
brated Dupuytren. A fireman was struck down
and the front part of the chest driven in by
heavy machine which fell upon him. He lay,
apparently dead, and was on the point of being
carried off as such, when Dupuytren, who
passing by, ascertaned that the cause of his
condition was the pressure eXerted by the de-
pressed bones on the contents of the chest. He
raised them, by pressing either side of the
chest, when the man sighed deeply, and soon
evinced marked signs Of life. He finally re-
covered. Had it not been for Dupuytren, the
man would have been buried alive. M. Bour-
geois adds, that many, on the field of battle,
have been thus restored, and many others might
have been saved, had assistance been afforded
sufficiently early. 1t is singular fact that the
faculty of hearing is one of the last extinguish-
ed many persons, while in trance, have
heard noises, and some have even distinguished
and understood the conversation of those who
surrounded them. Military men, also, to whom
the funeral honors have been rendered. have
been reused, and sas it were restored to lfe even
while being lowered into the grave, by the dis
charge of fire arms. Galvansm, or electricity,
might be had recourse to, with advantage, to de-
termne the question Of supposed death, and its
influence would be materially aided by passing
needles into the heart to which the wires might
he attached Experiments in the French hos
pital have shown us that this may be done with
impnnity .-Liverpool Mercury.
0sThe following is beautiful passage from
Lord Brougham's Sketches of the Times of
George Ill. 1t relates to Napoleon's ill-fated
Russian campaign, aud the disastrous Iretreat of
his legions:
"But the vaultng ambition of the great con-
queror at last overshot itself After his most ar.
duous and perhaps most triumphant campaign,
undertaken with profuson of military resour-
ces unexampled in the annals of war, the an
cient capital of the Russian empire was in his
hands yet, from the refusal of the enemy to
make peace, and the sterlty of the vast sur
rounding country, the contest was bootless to his
purpose. He had collected the mightiest army
the world ever saw from all parts Of the CONT
nent he had gathered his forces every dlVersl
ty of blood, and complexion, and tongue, and
garb, and weapon shone along his line; the re-
sources of whole provinces moved throug h the
kingdoms which his arms held in awe; the ar
tlery OF whole ctadels traversed the fields
the cattle on a thousand hills were made
the food of the myriads whom he poured into
the plains of Eastern Europe, where blood
flowed in rivers, and the earth was whitened
with mems bones. But this gigantic enterprise,
uniformly successful, was found to have no OBJ
ject, when it had no longer an enemy to over
come, and the victor in vain sued to the van
pushed for peace. The confagraton of Mos
cow in one night began his discontinue, which
the frost of another night completed. Upon the
pomp and circumstances of unnumbered war
riors-their cavalry, their guns, theg magazines,