The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-04-24
BURYING ALIVE.
A Theory of Life and Death
How to Distinguish Apparent
from Real Death.

to, the theories entertained by Others,
| will call attention to that which ap-
pears to be The most rational and con-
elusive, and pass directly TO the dis
tinctive symptoms of real and appar-
emt death.
=. Man as a sleeping, moving, active
mental being. phenomenaliy and nat
uraiiy indicates that his soul is link
ed to ephemeral life, to the body, by
three distinct chains. so blended in
his economy as to apparently be but
one, namely the vegetable, animal
and m.ntal The body, therefore can
not be dead unless the three are bro
ken.
3. Ills intellectual activities point
10 the mental chain of life; his physo
mental activities point to the animal,
and the absence of the power to
breathe, heart beat, move, think, &c,
as in apparent DEATH" point to the
vegetable chain of life within him.
, 4. An injury to the brain can SO
disrupt the mental chain that a man
may be unable TO manifest the least
symptom of intellectual or mental life,
and remain so weeks, months and per-
haps years, and the removal of the in
jury, or cause, restore the mental
chain SO that he can reason and think
again. All this time he breathed, ate,
drank, his heart beat, &C., showing
that the animal chain of life i'm him
was not totally disrupted or broken.
There is nothing more plain, there
fore, in our living economy than the
fact that the mental chain may be dis
rupted and the animal chain remain
intact, and keep the body alive. In
turn, disease, or a sudden impression,
may disrupt or break the animal chain
of life, and cause a total suspension
Of both animal and intellectual activ-
tiles, and yet, for the time being, the
vegetable chain remain intact, and
keep the body. This state is '1appa-
rent death" and, therefore, not death
itself.
5. This life condition of the body
corresponds TO the manifestations of
life in the vegetable kingdom. In the
vegetable there are no perceptible re-
spirations. or pulsations, symptom
attic of life. Neither, is there in the
body living in apparent DEATH" The
life fluids of the vegetable circulate
imperceptibly by the attractive and
repulsive, or positive and negative,
forces of the universe. So they do in
the body in apparent DEATH" This
shows that it is not only probable, but
conditionally certain, that the body of
man can for cause, according to the
law of life, live unconsciously. for the
time being, upon the same plain of life
that the vegetable liveth.
e. This is not SO marvellous when
IL 4, sci L.
able life gradually causes tall oaks to
grow from the smallest acorns, and
protects them from heat and cold, SO
that many live to an. age beyond that
of man., t-
z. La apparent death, therefore, the
human body lies in our presence,
helpless, motionless. and as speechless
as a rose bush amidst the chilly waves
the viens, and arteries, as in animal
life; its eyes are closed, its hands and
feet are cold, and yet science bids us
hopefully flee to the faded forest aud
ask: Can this be death? This is the
state in which patients, from time i'm
memorial, have sometimes been buri-
ed alive. p- u
s. A rather prominent man in Chi
cago, few days since, died from
very acute and painful disease. He
looked to be dead. His physician
and friends had no other thought.
After few days they laid him in the
grave, and just as the sexton took his
shovel to throw the first shovelfull of
earth upon his coffin, he came to con-
sciousness, made. noise by groaning
and scratching the coffin, and was re-
leased and taken back to his home
alive. Many other narrow escapes
from this awful doom might be refer
red to, to say nothing of the skeletons
and bodies that have been discovered
turned over, and in different postures,
the removal of the remains of the
dead from one to another burying
place, proving beyond a doubt that
persons are buried alive. Custom,
or something else, causes too much
haste in preparing q patient for the
grave when they cease to breathe, and
their heart to beat. This occurs some
times, and the patient, though motion
less and helpless, hears all that is said
around him, knows that he is being
prepared for the grave, hears the first
shovelful of earth that is thrown on
his coffin, or knows when his body is
placed in cold room, or packed in
ice to freeze to death-to finish for
him what disease had failed to do
and has no power 10 help him self.
3. Under these circumstances the
purpose of this brief synopsis of life
and death is given to the public, that
families and those who have not stud
led these or kindred subjects may see
the possibility of persons being buri-
ed alive, and also to give the modes
of telling with certainty when the
body is dead, or apparently dead, and
to arrest, if possible, these sad occur
rences.
10. The rational and humane form
ula to pursue with patient after the
breath and pulsations have ceased.
appear to me to be this /: First, close
the eyes and disturb the body no
more han cleanliness may demand.
Second, see that the room, if in cold
weather, is comfortably warm, and
let the body thus lay for six or twelve
hours, to give the last chain of life,
undisturbed by handling or moving,
full power, if it can, to arrest the soul
i'll its flight, on the vegetable plain of
life. Third, now approach the body,
alu III blOTo are ucdtu-llk6 OQOfS, NO.,
the body is dead, aud it is fit aud pro-
per to lay it ont and bury it. Fourth,
if these symptoms are absent, or not
present, darken the room, raise the
hand from the breast, aud hold a
lighted candle on the opposite side of
the hand from yourself, closely in
spect the hand and fingers. and ifthey
in appearance, present a Leyden, or
blueish hue or color, although there
may be no positive death-like odors
or smell, the patient is dead, and it
is fit that the body should be laid out
and buried. Fifth, if, on the other
hand, upon close inspection, the
hand and fingers, in appearance, pre-.
sent a light pinkish hue or color, the
body is not dead, the soul has been
arrested in it's flight, and the body, il
properly cared for, will return to life
again. Sixth, avoid putting the body
in ice, fashion in warm weather in
high life, or putting it in cold room,
until you have tested, as above. to SEQ
If il ia dead or alive This trent