The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-08-03
BURYING ALIVE.
A French Physician Investigates the Mat.
ter and Finds that No Cases of Premn-
ture Burial have Taken Place.

n French fhysician 1nvesuGntes the Mat
ter and Finds that No Cases of Premn-
turo Burial have Taken Place.
Not long ago Mc. Young, formerly
editor of the Saratoga Sentinel, died at
Greenfield, N. Y, and his will, which
was full of eccentricities, endel with
the following request:
"N. B.-Above all things, see that
every measure be resorted to, proving
that am dead, dead, DEAD, before
placed in coffin"
Mr.. Young seems to have been haunt
cd, like many others, by morbid fear
of being buried alive, mainly, no doubt,
from the dreadful stories occasionally
circulated, which affirm that such acci-
dents have really happened, The idea
OF returning to consciousness, after
temporary insensibility, and finding
oneself shrouded, coffined and consigned
to the earth or locked up in tomb, with
only corpses for companions, and
doomed to slow death by starvation
and suffocation, is horrible enough to
shake the nerves of the stoutest, If it be
admitted as one of the possibilities. It
has been the staple of many sensational
stories, which are reproduced in vari-
ETY. of forms, and serve to keep up a
painful kind of apprehension, like that
which worried the mind of Mr.. Young.
But, as matter of fact, these accounts
are nearly all unworthy of credit. They
originate nobody knows how, are repeat
ed without the least sense of RESPONSE
bility, and, in nine cases out Of ten, will
not bear any serious examination. They
are like the familiar stories that appear
with tolerable regularity every year or
two, of the girl who has a live snake
domiciled in her stomach, or the man
who has accidentally swallowed water
lizard and can't get rid of him. In one
sense, the most interesting peculiarities
of these narrowing tales are the avidity
with which they are circulated and be-
lieved, the fullness and apparent precis-
ion of their details, and the insignificant
quantity of truth that serves for their
foundation. Some years ago DIR. Bou
chut, of Paris, undertook to trace by
personal investigation the source and &C.
curacy of several reports of this kind,
as they appeared in tho daily journals,
either going to the spot himself, or ap-
plying to the local authorities for infor-
nation. In every case out Of the large
number reported the doctor found that
there was no foundation for tho report
whatever. The French academy Of sci
ences some years ago offered a large re
ward for evidence in any case of prema-
ture burial. Its object was: First, to
ascertain what ground, if any, existed
for public apprehension in regard to
premature burials and, secondly, what
measures, if any, We're requisite for THEN
prevention. More or less uneasiness had
been excited on this subject some years
before by iniudicious publications, and
in Germany it had reached to such an
extent that in several towns "mortua
ries," or reception dead houses, were
-, erected where the bodies of deceased
persons were to be kept without buria
until such time as the signs of putrefac
, tion should become manifest. M. Bey
lard in 1S47 visited the mortuary OF
Mayence, situated, like others of its
: class, within the walls of the cemetery
, At that time there were two bodies in the
reception chamber, each with the hands
; resting upon the abdomen, the wrists
tied by a cord, the other end of which
was attached to bell in the room pccu
pied by the guard, so that any move
ment, by day or night, would at once
attract his attention. On one occasion
the alarm was given, but it was found tx
: come from dead body, the hands having
4 slipped down, owing to an escape OF flu
ids and collapse of the abdomen. Thi
: was the only time during the forty.tiv'
> years of the existence of the establish
ment that the bell had been heard t.
, ring. OF course it is possible that al
interment should be made, through ex
treme haste, negligence, or ignorance
l before life is extinct; but in that case j
would be to the last degree improbabl
. that the buried person should ever re
I turn to consciousness. DR.. Bouchut
s treatise sets at rest the mistaken MOTTO
: that we are liable to pass into state O
: temporary lethargy, in which all the ar
preciable signs of vitality are in abey
3 ance, and from which, after the lapse c
Il twenty-four or forty eight hours, we ma
e return to life and sensibility. There
J. no such state. When the hearts pulsa
@ tions have once ceased, SO as not to b
perceived by medical auscultation, the
e have ceased forever, and there is no +,
), suscitation.