The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-10-03
Premature Burials.

1t is fact, as strange as IL Is sad, that
so many persons are buried before they
are thoroughly dead. The reason is
perhaps that much Ignorance still pre-
walls in regard to what is real death.
Even physicians, who should know
better, have frequently pronounced
person dying or dead. when IL
was only fainting fit of long duration,
with cessation of circulation and re.
spiration. The sign of death commonly
believed in, is to place a mirror on the
face of person and observe If any moist
ure is condensed on that portion Of glass
over the mouth, or to tie string tight
ly around finger and notice If 1t swells
up. The moisture on the mirror and
the swelling up of the finger, are, to be
sure, certain signs that death has not
taken place, while they are the result
OF continued-however weak-resplra-
tion and circulation; but the failure to
observe any such results is by no means
a guarantee that the person is dead, be-
cause there are numerous cases of a
trance state in which respiration and
circulation had totally stopped, and
after many hours, and even days, were
restored. A person in such condition
gives no signs of life whatsoever-no
~ cultation can detect the slightest
trace of the beating Of the heart; it is
only a suspension Of those functions of
life, which certainly are also the first
symptoms Of the beginning of death,
but do not constitute death itself, which
takes place sometime atterward. If,
now, this real death does not follow,
and the functions of respiration and cir
culation, from some unknown causes,
are restored to the individual, he soon
regains his consciousness; and If, in the
meantime, the relatives, ignorant of the
above facts, had too much confidence in
the physician who declared the patient
dead, and listened to the advice of the
undertakers, who are always anxious
to finish up their jobs, so as not to be
cheated out of them, the poor patient
has been buried alive, and his feelings,
on awakening in the narrow coffin,
buried in the earth beyond help, are
most horrible thing to contemplate.
Real death does not commence before
the lingering vitality has been so far
extinguished that the ordinary chemi-
cal processes and reactions between the
different parts constituting the body
take place without hindrance. If we
have Il soul or spirit which can exist
independently OF the body, this spirit
cannot become free from its entangle-
ments in the material body before this
body begins to decOmpose and loses its
vital functions entirely, before that
time Inconsistencies prevails. We
hold, therefore, that death begins with
Inconsistencies, and that if there is an
after life of the spirit, the real death or
departure of this spirit only takes place
when decomposition of the body begins,
which alone constitutes real death of
the body, while the soul is gradually
set free, or evolved from the decaying
body. The sure sign of this decomposi-
ton is not the odor, as many sick per-
sons emit bad odors even during life;
but it is the visible signs Of decomposi-
tion, which are a greenlsh discoloration,
first appearing on the abdomen or in
the region of the stomach. This sign
is absolutely certain. and if we had the
power, we would have a law enacted
forbidding the burial Except in cases
of prevailing dangerous epidemics) of
any individual in which this sign had
not appeared.