The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-06-07

anxiety wrote to friend in Hoosic
and learned the facts, which are without
| any romance or sensation. The doctor
died and was buried. That il all.
Now. do not deny that such dreadful
accidents a. premature burials mag and
do happen. There are on record some in
stances of which there is NO reason to
doubt the truth. But even this Is admit
ted with q mental reservation, for the
books insist that NO authentic cases are on
record. The mother of the Scotch preach.
ers, the Erskines, is additionally held to
have been placed in q vault when she was
supposed to be dead. A ring on her finger
tempted the sexton to undertake its alb
straction, but when he used his knife she
started from trance; he left somewhat
hastily; she followed him and went home,
to the great surprise of her husband.
This is the tradition, but If it were traced
to its source it would be found as un-
founded a. all the rest. No better proof
Of the unreliability of these stories than
the results OF the system adopted in Ger.
many, of placing the dead in houses pre-
pared for their reception, where they are
watched professionally until decay makes
it obvious that life is extinct. At Mentz,
surgeon was forty-five years attached to
one of these houses, and, although it was
rare for the house to be without an inmate,
in all that time there was not an instance
of q person being restored. When was
at Halle, and at the grave of Gesenius, I
asked the sexton to show me the arrange
ments to prevent premature burials. He
was an old man; sections are often old
men; he led me to house near the gate
OF the cemetery; in one of its two rooms
q 6oA oh t~<>1~, <~f
supposed to be dead is placed; it is COW
cred up, as in sickness, and the air care
fully kept in state favorable to health.
On each finger is placed q thimble, and
from each one extends q thread, passing
through the wall to q bell, so delicately
hung that the least pulsation or move
ment of finger would set the bell ring
ing, to the alarm of the attendant, who
instantly flies to the reviving sufferer.
And how many times, in your long
service, have you rescued your customers
from an untimely gravel"
Not once" he answered. have
never had . case of recovery, nor of one
who has given any signs of life."
Have you heard Of any cases in other
places?"
cit is said that one was saved in Erfurt,
but it is only report; may be true or may
be nOt?'
This is the testimony that comes uni
formly from all the books and all the
countries where the subject receives care
full attention. While it goes to show that
instances of premature burial are ex-
ceedingly rare, it does not show that such
cases are impossible. In times of pre-.
vailing epidemic, when bodies are car
ried off by authority as rapidly as pos
sible, to retard the progress of pesti-
lencc, it would not be strange If mis-
takes were made. Asiatic cholera some
times brings the victim to state of ap.
parent death, from which he may recov-
er, under careful and .persevering treat
ment. But in the common course of
human experience, the approach and
advent of death are so clearly defined,
and certainty is 50 easily had, that pre-.
mature burial can be possible only from
great carelessness or indecent haste.
The ordinary tests of the breathing may
fail, but the action of the heart can be
detected by the ear, even when the most
delicate hand fails to discover it by the
sense of feeling. In new born infants, it
is difficult to detect the motion for some
minutes together, but in the case of others,
the interval between pulsations of the
| ne0fC OOe9 NOT exceed SIX or eight SECONDS.
And if this examination is made twenty.
four hours after death is supposed to have
taken place, the fact is made certain one
way or the other. There are other tests
which may be readily applied, but they
are not needed in the case of persons dy-
ing under ordinary circumstances. The
customs of civilization, the dictates OF
natural affection, and the most rational
Judgment, require such an interval of
time between death and burial Us to make
the case palpable to the senses, so that no
possible doubt can exist. 1t is not likely
that one case of doubt occurs in each mill
ion of persons buried, and the one case of
doubt would prove to be a certain death
in nine cases out of ten. From all which
infer that the nervous apprehension
some people have that they will be buried
alive, is just as unreasonable as it would
be for q man to expect to be taken up to
heaven in a chariot of fire. Such an event
has occurred, and it is not impossible that
it may again. But it is not probable
Iren0as, IN N. =. Observer.