Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-07-15
Phenomena of death

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS va lAFC44IN.
From the Chicago News.
Every year adds a mass al
mony more or less CONVINCING
popular and professional ivno,
prevalent concerning the phenoa
OF death. Accounts are nubIs
from time to time of prenatura
ais, of suspended animation
coffined corpses which have IA
last moment. electrified their res-
i've circle of mourners by givlns 9
sign of vitality just sufficient to a
them from an unyielding grave a
people read these stories, Others q
them over, and in a few incidents a
are cut out and pasted into N
books devoted to a collection a. "a
bearing on the subject. Within
space of fifteen years for examuls
amount of such matter that
come to the notice of the ayeraoa
ual newspaper reader is enormops
will be enough to fill .nany .
scrap-book, and it will embrace y
mony relating to all the pheporo1
connected with the mystery OF 81
cal dissolution.
Such a collection would include
after case OF premature burial 8,
lated death and resuscitation oftSI
supposed to be dead. In case the
iector were disposed to make a M
OF the subject, he would have Nc A.
Guilty in completing his data with
timony as to the different phases
death by starvation, by drownine f.
by hanging. Such a collection not
ly might be made, but actually
been made, and in all instances W.
it was practicable every case has r.
carefully authenticated.
Any one who will take the trou1
to review such a mass of testimo
will be pretty thoroughly convince5
two things. The first is the LACY
understanding Of the maltilsdin1
details of death. The second is ~
norance of the simple methods Of
suscitation and restoration that n
be effectually employed under cert
circumstances. The inevitable COM
sion to be reached from these premi5
| is that there is no absoI,z
proof OF death in one case out
hundred, as no scientific tests ara f
piled. In the majority OF cases AZ
respiration ceases the attending 81
sician is called. He pronomces F
patient dead. The minister is "A
moned, then the undertaken, and &
body is inferred. The evidences
death in such a case are found simu
in the appearance of the body. Is
limbs are stark and rigid, the ind
| jaw is fallen, the eyes are set, the
discolored, and an ashy pallor Ii
swept over the countenance. Yeti
all this tine vital spark may not hal
been entirely extinguished. a %
longed period of inanition, cataiept
conditions, syncope or trance may
count for these appearances. This
proved by the numerous instances
which exhumed caskets have given
dubitable evidence of an appaIli
struggle, in which lining, pillows a
shrouds have been torn to shreds.
A curious fact connected with q,
form OF inanition may be found in L
| trivial circumstance necessary in sor
instances to recall the ebbing tide
life. In one case, as the ATTENDED;
were removing rings from the Hinged
O supposed corpse the body straigA
ened up and respiration commenrs
In another case an accidental pun
ture by q lance, and III another a 50
den shrek served to rouse persons i'd
before burial, ftom n state OF tral.s
In other instances the terrible spect
Gle of the closing coffin-lid has b
sufficient to releasethe victim from &
cataleptic state. One man sat bt
upright in his coffin and exclaime
what is it all about?" A little 3
said: Papa, please don't leave me
and q woman screamed: III am n
dead" A singular instance Of spdd
restoration is found in the case
Miss Clara Munce OF Greenpoint, Coul
who has in her possession iat
silver plate on which is engrav
her name, together with the date!
her birth and the date OF her suppos
| death. On the last mentioned da
she was lying in her coffin perfeci
conscious of thefuneral ceremony ii
was going on about her. As her fi.inl
passed round the coffin to view hsr
mains for the last time many Of tht
stopped ard kissed her. Sudder
some one noticed that the corps
nose was bleeding. Mental agony b
superinduced this sign of lie.
Decomposition is said to be the I
ly iniallible sign OF death. By usi
modern appliances of ice and emtai
ing fluids bodies may be kept sevel
days after decomposition has set
all doubt of death being thus removl
Greeks and Romans seem to have !
allied this fact, for laws existed amc
them forbidding interment for fr,
three to eight days after death. ]
first recorded instance Of the resto
ton of life of an individual about
be buried was that of a woman in
rigentum, in ancient Greece. Her Fl
eral was arrested by Empedocles, "
restored her to life.