Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-11-09
WHOLE NUMBER IlS.

tiOns, and went to take little rest, re-
? qUesting to be called if the patient man.
, ifested any signs of life. The night and
next day passed without any change
; While making preparations for the buri-
: al, they noticed little blood OOZing out
of the leechbites. Dr. Neyrat, inform
ed of the circumstance, entered the
chamber, just as the nurse was about to
wrap the corpse in its Winding-sheet
Suddenly a rattling noise issued from
TheTese's chest. She opened her eyes,
and in hollow voice said to the nurse
What are you doing here? I am not
dead. Get away with yOU.' She TecOv-
cred, and felt no other Inconvenience
than deafness, which lasted about two
months.
Exposure to cold may also induce a
suspension Of vitality, liable TO be mis-
taken for actual DEATH This year, the
| French senate has again received sever
al petitions relative to premature inter-
ments. The question is serious in a
country where custom Ito say nothing
of law rules that burials shall take place
within eight-and-forty, seventy-twO, or
at most ninety-siX hours after Death
And, considering the length of time
that frances, catalepsies, lethargies, and
cases of suspended animation have been
! known occasionally to continue, il is
scarcely in England less interesting to
us, though public feeling, which is only
an expression of natural affection, ap-
| proves, and indeed almost cOmpeIs, a
/ longer delay. The attention of the
French government being once more di-
rected to the subject, there is little doubt
that all reasonable grounds for fear will
/ be removed.
The petitioners have requested, as a
/ precautiOn, that all burials, for the fu-
| ture, should, in the first instance, be
! only provisional. Before filling grave,
a communication is to be made between
the collin and the atmosphere, by means
of respiratory tube; and the grave is
not to be finally closed until all hope of
! life is abandoned. These precautions,
it will be seen at once, however good in
| theory, are scarcely practicable. 9th
ers have demanded the general estab-
lishment of mOrtuary CLEANERS, or dead
| houses, like those in Germany. And
not only the petitioners, but several sem
atOTs, seem to consider that measure the
/ full solution of the problem. Article u
of the Civil Code prescribes a delay of
twenty-fOur hours only; which appears
to them to be insufficient. Science, they
urge, admits the certainty that death
| has taken place, only after putrefactive
decomposition has set in. Now, a much
| longer time than twenty-fOur hours may
| elapse before that decomposition mani
! tests itsels, Deposit, therefore, your
dead in a mOrtuary chapel until you are
perfectlp sure, frsm the evidence of your
senses, that life is utterly and hopeless
| Iy extinct.
! In Germany, collins, with the cOrpses
laid out in them, are placed in a build
! ing where q keeper watches day and
night. During the forty years that this
| system has been in force, not a single
case of apparent death has been proved
to occur. This negative result cannot
he cited as conclusive, either for or
/ against the system. In a country where
a million of people annually die, an ex-
/ pertinent embracing only fOrty-siX thou
sand cOrpses, is too partial to be relied
on rs evidence. Moreover, mOrtuary
chambers exist only in a few great CEN
| tres of populations; and it is especially in
small towns and country districts, where
medical men are too busy to inspect the
dead, that premature interments are to
be apprehended.
| Out of Germany, rs in England and
France, there might be great difficult
/ ty i'll getting the population to accept
and make use of mOrtuary chambers
| And even if favOrably looked upon in
| large cities, the rich, as i'll Germy, would
refuse to expose their dead there TO the
| public gaze, In the country and in iSO-
| lated villages the plan would be impOs-
! sible to carry out. NJ. Henri de Par
vile, while announcing the existence of
an infallible test of distinguishing appa-
rent from real death, protests that to
wait until body falls into decOmpOsi-
ton, is just as opposed to French habits,
70 =, L.
mOTtuaTy chambers are unacceptable by
public the in general. He holds that
vulgar error. Not long ago, it was over
and over again asserted that an infalli- |
bic mode of ascertaining whether per- |
sOn were dead or not, was to infiiCt |
burn on the sole of the foot. Ii Il blis- |
ter full of water resulted, the individual |
was not dead; if the contrary happened, |
there was 10 further hope. This error /
was unhesitatingly accepted as an item /
of the popular creed.
The Council of Hygiene, applied to by |
the government, indicated putrefactiOn /
and cadaverOus rigidity as infalIible 1
signs of actual death. In respect to the l
first putrefactiOn, professional man is
the legislature has already adopted the
wiser and more practical measure. The
permission to inter q corpse cannot be
SLAuDCu ullGAl GllC Wv II OlAlCGI HAS gone
see the body of the deceased. When
the Article n of the Civil Code was un-
der discussion by the Council of State,
FOurcrOy added: 1T shall be specified
that the civil officer be assisted by feri-
or rank to doctor of Northumberland !
there are cases i'll which it is difficult to
make certain that death has actually Oc-
CURED, without a thorough knowledge
of its symptoms, and because there are
tOlerably numerous examples to pFOve
that people have been buried alive In
Paris, especially since Baron HauSs-
mann's administration, Article a has
been strictly fulfilled; but the same ex-
actitude cannot be expected in out-Of-
the-Way hooks and corners of the cuun-
try, where a doctor cannot always be
found, at minutes warning, to de-
blared whether death be real or appar-
ent only. 1t is clear indisputable prac-
tiCal solution; the difficulty lies in its
and efficient application.
1t has been ttIdiciOusly remarked that
it would be good plan to spread the
knowledge of the sure and certain char
acteristics which enable us to distingu-
ish every form of lethargy from real
death. 1t cannot be denied that, at the
present epoch, the utmost pains are TAX
en- to pOpularise every kind of knOwl- !
edge. Nevertheless, it makes slow way !
through the jungles of prejudice and !
not likely to make a mistake; but moth :
ing is more possible than for nOn-prO- :
fessiOnals to cOnfOnd hospital rOtteness,
with true pOSt-mOrtem pUtre- ,
faction. NJ. de Parville declines TO ad- |
NIT it as q test adapted for popular ap- 4
plicatiOu. Moreover, i'll winter, the time :
required for putrefaCtiOn to manifest its ,
elf is extremely uncertain.
Although the French Government is
anxious to enforce throughout the whole
Empire, the rules carried out in Paris, =,
It is to be feared that great difficulties lie n
in the way. The verifcatiOn of deaths .
)n so enormous n scale, with strict min !,
Iteness, is almost impTacticable. But Il
sven if il were not, many timid persons o
would say: Who is to assure us of the n
lOctOr's observations? Unfortunately, i
90 many terrible examples of their fall 1
ibility are on record. The professional =
nan is pressed for time He pays pass =,
ng visit, gives a hurried glance; and a "
atal mistake is SO easily maden Pub
iC opinion will not be reaSsured until nj
'Ou can show, every time q death Oc-
.urs, an irrelutable demonstration that q,
ife has departed. 9
NJ. de Parville now announces the DOS
Utility of this great desideratum. He g,
'rOleSseS to place in any ones hands, u
apparatus, which would de-
lare, not only whether the death he V
cal, but IUOUld leave iB The hands Of the
,CpcTiHlGRtCr q SpritteI proof Of the TCdli- 81
y Of the death. The scheme is this: It L
$ well known that atrophine-the ac- "
i've principle of belladOnna-pOssesses Ii