Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-04-16
Premature Interment.


description Of some unusual appearances in the
face of corpse during the performance Of the
funeral ceremonies. A flush Of crimson over
spread the cadaverous features, while the fore
head became moist with what seemed to beper-
spiration. An examination was held by two
physicians, on whose report the body was sub
sequently nsigned to earth. There can be no
doubt, however, that many cases of premature
nterment have occurred when there were not
even the symptoms of life exhibited as in the above
case. A state Of trance has often been mista-
ken for death. One of many similar cases is
told in the following paragraph from recent ;
number of the N. 7. Tribune.
"The Courier dAthens relates that just as the
body Of the wife of a gpsey named PPassan
was being inferred in the cemetery in that city,
a noise was heard to proceed from the coffin,
which was Immediately opened After some
restoratives had been administered to the sus-
posed dead woman, she soon recovered sutfi-
GENTLY to return to her home"
A correspondent of the Tribune, referring to
this and like cases, says DR.. Herbert Mayo, an
eminent English physician, in work On the
Truths contained in Popular Superstition" gives
a very clear account of the various forms of
trance and of the causes which produce them.
Of one form he says:
"Death-trance is the image of death-the
heart does not beat the breathing is suspended;
the body is motionless; not the slightest out
ward sign of sensibility, or consciousness can be
detected the temperature of the body falls;
the entranced person has the appearance of
corpse, from which life has recently departed.
The joints are commonly relaxed, and the whole
frame pliable, but it is also likely that spasmodic
rigidity will form an occasional adjunct Of this
strange condition, so that the only means of
knowing whether life be still present is to await
the event"
DR.. Mayo gives instances of premature burial
in that part of his book where he discusses the
superstition called vampyrism," once prevalent
throughout Europe. The "vampyre' was a
corpse, which, retaining an unnatural vitality,
preserved itself from decomposition Dy sucking
the blood of the living; for which purpose it
nightly forsook its grave The fears engendered
by this superstition led to frequent examination
of burial grounds by the local authorities. The
record of these Investigations, which were then
thought-in the changed position, absence of
decomposition, &c.-to confirm the prevailing
superstition, show now to the enlightened inqui-
rer an untold number of victims who were buried
alive. Though DR.. Mayo considers this danger
as comparatively small in England, where bodies
are not hastily buried. STILL" he says, socie-
ty is not sufficiently on its guard against con-
tingency so dreadful" And again: When
the nurse or the doctor has announced that all
is over-that the valued friend or relative has
breathed his last--no doubt crosses any ones
mind of the reality of the sad event." = y
L" The laity, if not the doctors, too, constantly
lose sight of the fact that there exists an alter
native to the fatal event of ordinary disease
that patient is liable at any period of illness to
deviate, or, it were slide into another and de-
ceptive route-instead of death, to encounter
apparent DEATH" r.
When this possibility is fairly considered, few
will feel inclined to question the soundness OF
DR.. Mayo's advice. "The body" he observes,
"should be kept in warm room for the double
purpose of promoting decomposition, if it be
dead, and Of preserving in it the vital spark if
It still linger; and it should be constantly watch
ed There are, of course" he adds, many
cases in which such care is positively unnecessa-
ry. Such for instance, as death following great
lessons of vital organs, and in the great major-
ty of cases of seeming death, the bare possibil-
ity of the persistence Of life hardly remains.
Still it is better to err on the right side"
The writer Of the communication in the Tri-
bune says that, many years ago, his father, on
recovering from an attack of yellow fever at Su-
rinam, fell into trance, such as DR.. Mayo has
described, and lay for ten days without any ex-
ternal sign of life, but not without consciousness.
He was laid out for burial soon after this state
supervened, and was only saved from a most
horrible fate, by the caution or affection OF an
attendant, who pleaded for delay until decom-
position should set in. He himself overheard
part of the conversation which was to determine
his fate, while wholly incapable of manifesting
any sign of vitality and in after years could
never allude to the subjecl without emotion,
1t would be easy to multiply examples, but the
foregoing may suffice to awaken wholesome at
tentiion to subject which nearly concerns all,
The CITY OF HAYT1.-Instead of a handsome
city, such as it appears from the ships deck at
sea, rising on gradual elevation from the shore'
and adorned with good houses and gardens, you
enter into streets of wooden buildings, with the
pavement disocated or broken up, the drains
neglected, and filth andstable dung interrupting
steps in every direction. The quay is spacious,
but the water is shallow near the shore; and all
sorts of uncleannesses are suffered to annoy the
senses. A constant malaria is the consequence,
which at certain seasons of the year renders the
lower quarter of the city very sickly and occa-