Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-10-25
DIR. TANNERS IDEAS.
he TALKS OF PREMATURE BURIAL
AND SUSPENDED ANIMATION.


Criminal Has.e-The Subtle Principle al
Life-The Doctor Convinced That Man
Can Hibernate.
Eight years have gone since Dr.. 81. s.
Tanner performed his wonderful feat Of
fasting forty days and nights in Clarendon
hall, in New York city. For sixteen days
he touched neither water nor food After
the sixteenth day he began to drink water,
and subsisted on this alone during the re-
naming twenty-four days of his fast.
The public has not heard much of the
plucky little doctor for the last few years,
but not long ago he turned up in Chicago,
bright and clipper. splendid specimen
of a man in perfect health, and with q
rotundity Of form Indicative rather of the
bon vivant than of a man who eats only
two meals day IN summer and only one
in winter.
Where have you been keeping your
self, doctor?" asked reporter, after
friendly greetings had been exchanged.
Il have Just returned from New Mex
leo, where l have been for nearly four
years, pursuing certain Investigations Of
a scientific nature am much interested
III the subject of suspended animation OF
counterfeit death. am convinced that q
far greater percentage of people are
/ buried alive than even those who have
ever given the matter much thought
/ would be willing to believe. In 10 coun-
try in the world are the dead buried with
such criminal haste, | may say, as in tie
United States. / have been looking into
this subject more or less for the last
twenty five years, and the evidence have
accumulated is startling. tel: you, it is
murder, horrible murder, and it is high
time some agitation was started for the
purpose of securing needed legislation on
the subject of the burial of the dead.
THE MOVEMENT IN EUROPE.
''The principle Of life is so subtle" con-
tinued the doctor, that man with all his
science knows nothing about it; and the
only safeguard against the awful crime
OF burying alive those we love lies in the
precautions that are taken against COM
hitting their bodies to the tomb before
decomposition has set In. That is the
only unmistallable sign that death has
finally taken place. The people of Hol-
land were among the first to awaken to
the Importance Of this subject, and in
( 1854 q society was organized in Amster-
dam for the purpose OF looking into cases
where death seemed counterfeit rather
than real. Ia less than four years they
had reSuscitated-savedf from entom bment
alive-no less than $50 persons. In 1858
the authorities at Milan and Venice, and
those at Hamburg, followed the example
set by Holland, and a little later similar
societies were formed at London, Paris
and Glasgow. As result of the work and
Investigations Of these societies. among
the members of which were some of the
foremost scientists of the times, it has
been proved that in q great number of
cases where every known test had been
applied and preparations made for the
burial the subjects had recovered. These
experiences led Professor Morine, of the
University of Rome, TO offer prize of
1900 francs for the best essay on appar-
ent death; and the Marquis dOuche LETT
0,O00 francs to be used in discovering the
best means that could be applied in de-
tecting the counterfeit Of death And so
in all countries statistics collated on this
subject are startling, as revealing the
danger Of premature burial.
Now don't you think" asked the
doctor, that this is subject that peo-
pie should discuss, should DO walked up
| about?'
"What remedy have you to offer,
doctort''
Simply this: hold--and it certainly
cannot be successfully contradicted-that
the setting in Of decomposition is the
only certain sign Of death. In the alb
sence Of this burial should be delayed
weeks and months. if necessary, for so
long as there is no decay life may hang by
feeble thread, and, by that sGbtleuess
of which l have already spoken, the re-
covery be spontaneous.
TIE DOCTOR WILL HIBERNATE
Another discovery that I have made"
said the doctor, SIS that alternating ami
mails Go not use their lungs during the
period of Information. For several years
l have been studying the habits of this
class of animals, and, do you know,
an about convinced that man Gun hiber-
nate"-
Here the reporter must have looked the
incredrlity he felt, for the doctor fastened
to explain: Take the bear for example;
its organs of respiration are the same as
mans, and it hibernates for months with
out food or drink. | have also been
studying the philosophy Of the adopts
who used to be able TO go into the death
trance at viii. Their preparation for this
was long fasting, and the trance condi.
ton following was. In my opinion, sea-
son of Information. am studying now
with q view Of making some experiments
ia this line and the time may come when
/ viii permit myself to be sealed up IN an
air tight coffin and laid away until such
time rs l shall designate for it to be
opened"
But, doctor, you will not expect to
come out Of test Hike thst alive. viii
your
Yes, indeed" was the earnest reply.
Il have twice been near the portals OF
the tomb in my studies Of this subject Of
Life principle and Of suspended animation,
and firmly beliove can go still nearer
that can to all outward appearances be
dead. and. remaining that way for a
length of time, can still come back iiv-
ing witness Of the truth Of my theories
| and Investigations.
Speaking Of his fast, he said: Tho
fact is, with most people the body rules
| the mind, while the reverse should be the
case-the mind should control the body.
Appetite. and it may be a depraved one,
clamors for this or that desired article,
| and people rush oil to crafty it. When
l began my forty days fasting I said to
Ky stomach: Here, old fellow, / have a
| job for you. I want you 70 take good
| long rest. and I want 10 gruInbhng about
/ t. That settled It. A. 10 o'clock Of the
| last day Of my fast, when had only Two
| hours to 60, little child that was IN the
room where was thrust ripe peach IN
| der ny nose. If Adam was tempted ss /
was then Go not wonder that he fell
had SO little longer to go without eating
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