American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-01-31

uaU even Known OF Ine case OF man III
humble life, seized with an elpilept;c fit,
| and being supposed TO have died of it,
was carried to the cemetery, and forth
with inferred.
Too precipitate btliial often occurs in
the case of persons whose death Is sup
posed to have been occasioned by sud
den shock. On more than one occasion
electricity or galvanism has served to re-
kindle the spark of life. Thus, boy
who fell from the second story of a
building into the court below, was picked
up dead. On examination 10 trace of ex-
ternal violence could be found. A sur
geon was promptly summoned, and as
promptly pronounced the boy dead. Be
ing taken home, it was somebody's hap
by thought that an electric battery should
be applied to him. This was done, and
at the fourth shock signs of life appeared,
and ultimately the child recovered. In
the annual Register for 1909, the case is
mentioned of woman named Prosser.
She had long been seriously ill, and was
lately supposed by the persons in attend
anIe to have died. The body was laid
out by woman usually employed in such
operations, who, on returning to the house
about six hours afterward, observed that
the position of the hands had been
altered, and concluded that visitors had
been in the room. But on going to close
the mouth, she was so awestruck by the
supposed corpse exclaiming, DO not
close my mouth, for am not quite dead"
that slit fell into fit, The sick person
subsequently recovered so as to be able to
sit up in her room, and to tell how she
she heard all the conversation which
passed relative to her funeral, but from
extreme weakness had not the power of
speech or motion.
On the 18th of February, some twenty
five years ago, a letter was read at the
Academy of Sciences, in Paris, from NJ.
Manni. Professor in the University of
Rome, in which he proposed to give funds
for special prize of !, 500 francs as
reward for a paper on apparent death and
the means of remedyihg it. The Academy
accepted the offer, and proposed for the
subject of prize the following questions.
First, What are the distinctive characler-
istics of apparent death? Second, What
are the means of preventing premature
burials They failed, however, to get
essays which they deemed worthy of the
prize until 1876 At length successful
essay -tas produced by NJ. .Bopchuti and
the fact of all others 10 which he directed
attention was that the criterion in all cases
between real and apparent death was that
in the latter case the heart never ceased
to beat. Even in the most profound
movement, M. Bouchut AYERS that pulsa-
ton does not c"sse. In support Of this
opinion he cited the case of man who,
by reason of wound of the radial artery,
experienced in short time many fright
full fainting fits. Utterly insensible, and
apparently incapable of being affected by
stimulants, he lay cold and white as mar
BILE His pulse failed, and to the hand the
beating, Of hts heart was imperceptible,
but to the ear il was audible at long inter
walls NJ Bouchut found the same in 9th
er cases; there was the beating of the
heart more or less weak, sometimes re-
duced to twenty or even fifteen beats in
the minute. But in svery case of syncope
produced by excessive hemorrhage, then
beating of the heart could be easily heard,
and promised to be the main ground of
difference between apparent and real
death OF course the probability of a
dreadful incident of this kind occurring
is far less in a country such as England,
where the dead are scarcely ever buried
in less than five days after death, than
here. 1t is in countries where speedy
burial is demanded that the utmost
vigilance is requisite. It was on this
account that doctors, although they usiially
differ, seem agreed that the horrible pangs
of suffering must be brought to an end by
within very brief period;
and the contortions which are said to
have been observed in the case of certain
corpses were, if the result of burial alive,
the work of very few moments. Opening
the jugular vein seems rather too severe a
test, because, if the patient really be not
dead, it would probably very soon make |
him so. Whether from apprehension, or
az a matter of sentiment, the first Marquis
of Hastings, the weliknown Governor
General of India, ordered his right hand
to be cut off and preserved, to be placed
in his wife's coffin at her interment. But
a right hand is too much of good thing
to run the risk of losing. Most of us,
however, would sooner jeopardize our
little finger than be buried alive; and we
imagine that our physical behaviour after
parting with that member would afford
pretty good proof of our condition. What
test Lord Lytton underwent we have not
heard.-N. Y Times.