The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-02-26
3 IRUARY g, 1880.
IS DEATH A FRAUD:
Some Interesting Incidents Of Being
Buried Alive, ard Some Lofty
Flights Of Imagination.

IdSt' dliA ShSII bf7ihS
In strict conformity to the demands of the
age. How many are annually borne to pre-
mature graves IN consequence of this indie
cent haste, only the records of eternity can
reveal
Cases of suspended animation are becom-
ing alarmingly frequent, and they so closely
resemble death in a large majority OF cases,
that not a man In all the crowds that fire.
quent the halls of science can detect SO much
as a technical difference. Many on the
European continent have been and still are
painfully cognlzant of the truth of this
symptom, and are bending all their energies
to devise some means to avert the terrible
train of evils that inevitably follow our want
of knowledge on this all-important theme.
Prot. Manni, of the University of Rome,
may be included in the number. A few
years ago he offered a prize Of $4,000 francs
for the best essay on apparent death,
Still later, the Marquis d'Ouche, deeply
impressed with momcntous interests at
stake, left 20, 900 francs to be given for the
best means that most direful of all calamitles
burying alive. In Germany the subject of
death and its counterfeit has received good
University of Upsal, especially has given
much thought and investigation to it, and
has now issued or Is about to issue a book
giving to the world the results of his re-
searches in this direction. But little atten-
ton has been given to this subject in Eng
land. In our own country there has been
the same culpable indifference, consequently
we nave no statutory laws to prevent pre-
mature burials. No inspection of our So
called dead is required by our municipal
boards of health. A certificate OF death,
and it's cause, from the attending physician,
is all that is necessary to procure the burial
permit.
The letter of DIR. Moster Beech, on the
s'inspection of the dead,' which was read
before the Medico Legal Society, went the
rounds of a good deal of newspaper COM
ment.
He however, developed nothing new as
to the best means Of detecting death. He
left a dark subject where he found it.
THE indication eff death" he said ''are
cessation of the respiration, arrests of the
respiration. arrests of the heart action,
loss Of animal heat, vigor, motion. and pu-
trifaction. To give his unwarranted as
symptoms, the weight Of authority he
quotes Sir Benjamin BOrdie, who says 'ces-
sation of respiration may be regarded as q
decisive test of the extinction of life To
still further corroporate his statement, he
quoted DIR. Taylor, who says THE visible
cessation of breathing for the space of five
minutes furnishes certain proof that the
person is really dead
Now it requires no argument to show that
this hypoth-sis rests upon no frmer basis
than mere assumption.
The witnesses would come by the hun
dreds and by the thousands from the ranks
of those who have been asphyxiated from
drowning and from other cause, that
would give the fiat denis: to these dogmat.c
assertions of Brodie and Taylor and Beech.
We have a large number Of we'll authen-
ticated cases Of catalepsy, or frances, In
which persons have, from a variety OF
causes, sank into a torpid state which has
been mistaken for death, and have been IL
nally restored to normal conditions. Mollie
Fancher is a case in point. For ten weeks
she lay in a condition of suspended ANNA,
ton, to appearance dead, but was finally
restored to life and consciousness. Mrs.
Lancaster, who formerly lived in Centre
Vile, st. Josephs county, Michigan, was
supposed to have died on the plains 500
miles west of Fort Laramie. While In this
state she was conveyed 10y the Indians on a
ruus litter back to the fort.
On arriving at the fort preparations were
made for the funeral, but before the remains
were fully disposed of, and eight days after
Mrs. l.. had supposed to have died, the
body exhibited signs of returning life, and
by degrees was fully resorted. The case of
the Rev. William Tenant, a New Jersey
minister, and Mr.. d. c. Mitchell and a host
of others might be cited if futher evidence
were necessary to invalidate the dogmatic
assumptions Of the authorities before men
toned. In all these cases the involuntary
forces were suspended, the lungs and heart
no longer heaved and pulsated, tho blood
ceased to circulate, and the limbs grew stiff
and cold.
Now, although our standard authorities
Ia physiological science throw but little
light upon the physiological and pathology
zeal phenomena that precedes and accom-
psnies suspended animation; yet think
the subject is neither above human cOmpre-
tension or beyond the proper DOMAIN of
science. A clear comprehension Of the
voluntary and involuntary forces Of the hu-
man originism Will, l think, give us the
clue by which We may eventually be enabled
% detect this counterfeit Of death, and will