Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-11
THE vERiFIcArIoN OF DEATH,
The Danger Of Being Buried Alive.

In a paper read before the New
York Medico- Legal Society, Wednes-
day night, DR.. Wooster Beach says:
A great many tests have been pro-
posed to prove real death, the most
important being association to deter
mine whether movements of the heart
can be Distinguished, and application
of the galvanic current to ascertain if
excitability Of the muscles remains.
But the tests of death available for
popular use are unreliable, and it con
seQuently follows that there is at least
a possibility of a person being buried
alive. Catalepsy occasionally presents
a form that might be mistaken even
by the physician for death. A great
many cases of apparent death have
been reported, and some of persons
buried alive. From 100 authentic
cases of apparent death, the following
cases are given in the order of their
frequency: Syncope, hysteria, apo
plexy, narcotism, and conclusion of
the brain.
My principal object in what | have
said has been to awaken attention o the
fact that a living person may present
signs of death sufficiently well marked
to deceive the unskilled, and even to
require a careful, scientifically con-
Quoted examination to establish the
fact hat the body still contains life.
1t is not a very unusual thing for a
physician to furnish a certificate of
death before the actual demise of his
patient And we all know Of in
stances where in such cases the doe
tors gloomy prOgnOsis has not been
verified, and the individual whom he
has consigned to the tomb has, per-
hsps, had the singular experience of
perusing the document which, under
ordinary circumstances. ought to be
conclusive evidence of his own death.
The eminent physicians who have
given thorough study to the subject
assert their belief most positively that
apparent death may be mistaken for
real, and by their exertions have in
huenced legislation to prevent evil
consequences. In Europe government
prescribes the time that a corpse must
be kept before burial. In this coun-
try there are no statutory laws gov
erning this matter. Our laws furnish
no protection against the danger of
burying a person while alive, and the
avoidance Of such an accident rests en-
tirely upon the care of those having
charge of the body before interment.
In this country the body of a deceased
person is placed in a box and pounded
ice thrown in so as to completely en-
velOpe it, and the temperature is re-
duced so low that actual freezing of
the tissues takes place. One effect
only can follOw-if the vital spark
were in the person before being sub
jected to the intense cold, it needs no
argument to show that it would
take but a very short expo
sure to It's influence to entirely ex-
tinguish it. Almost the first effect of
cold, when intense enough to cause
death, is in%sensibility, with entire loss
of muscular motion. The person ex-
posed to it could make no movement
nor utter any cutlery to Indicate that
he was suffering or dying from its
effects. Once packed in the ice his
death is as sure as if committed to the
grave. With us a supposed dead body
does not have time to become decom-
posed before it is packed in ice. Is
there no real danger in this? Under
nc circumstances should the burial of
a body be allowed an hour or two after
death. But why not as we'll bury it
as place it in Il situation of equal
peril to it, surprising life not to have
departed frOA it?
| see but one way to accomplish the
establishment of the fact of death
with certainty, and that is by the APP
pOintment of officers to inspect tile
dead.