, 1888-10-09

Criminal Hastc-The Subtle Principle of
Doctor Convinced That Man
Can Hibernate.
Eight years have gone since DR.. II. s.
Tanner performed his wonderful feat of
fasting forty days and nights in Clarendon
hal, in New York city-For sixteen DAVIS
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 wears.
but not long ago he turned up in Chicago,
bright and clipper, a splendid specimen
OF a man in perfect health, and with a
rotundity of form indicative rather of the
bon vivant thar of a man who eats only
two meals a day in summer and only one
in winter.
"Where have you been keeping YOUR
self, doctorf' asked a reporter, after
friendly greetings had been exchanged.
Il have just returned from New Mex
leo, where | nave been for nearly four
years, pursuing certain Investigations of
a scientific nature. | am much interested
in the subject of suspended animation or
counterfeit death l am convinced that a
far greater percentage of people are
buried alive thar even those who have
ever given tue mdbter mucn tnought
would be willing to believe. In no coun-
try in the world are the dead buried with
such criminal haste, l may say, as in the
United States. l have been looking into
this subject more or less for the last
twenty-five years, and the evidence | have
accumulated is startling. / tell 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.
HI IN EUROPE.
1.-THE principle of life is SO subtle" con-
tinued the doctor, chat 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
uniting their bodies to the tomb before
decomposition has set In. That is the
only unmistakable 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
1894 a society was organized in Amster-
dam for the purpose of looking into cases
where death seemed counterfeit rather
than real. In less thar four years they
had resuscitated-saved from entombmerft
ahve-no less than 100 persons. In 1868
the authorities at Milan and Venice. and
those at Hamburg, followed the example
set by Holland, and q little later similar
societies were formed at London, Paris
and Glasgow. As a 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 a 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 a prize of
1000 francs for the best essay on appar-
ent death; and the Marquis d'Ouche left
10000 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 c~ollated on this
subject are startling, as revealing the
danger of premature burial"
Now don't you think" asked the
doctor, that this is a subject that peo-
pie should discuss, should be walked up
about2"
What remedy have you to offer,
doctor2'
Simply this: 1 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
a feeble thread, and, by that su~btleness
of which l have already spoken, the re-
covery be spontaneous.
THE DOCTOR WILL
Another discovery that 1 lave made"
said the doctor, sis hat alternating ami
mails do not use their lungs during the
period of Information. For several years
1 have been studying the habits of this
class of animals, and, do you know, l
am about convinced that man can hiber-
nate'-
Here the reporter must have looked the
~incredulity he felt, for the doctor hastened
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. 1 have also been
studying the philosophy of the adopts
who used to be able to go into the death
trance at will. Their preparation for this
was long fasting, and the trance condi-
ton following was. in my opinion, a sea-
son of Information. l am studying now
with q view of making some experiments
in this line, and the time may come when
l will permit myself to be sealed up in an
air tight coffin and laid away until such
time as l shall designate for it to be
opened"
But, doctor, you will not expect to
come out of a test like that alive, will
youf"
Eyes, indeed" was tho earnest reply.
81 have twice been near the portals of
the tomb in my studies of this subject Of
life principle and of suspended animation,
and I firmly believe 1 can go still nearer
that L can to all outward appearances be
dead, and, remaining that way for q
length of time, can still come back a liv-
ing witness of the truth of my theories
and Investigations"
Speaking of his fast, he said: ''The
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 off TO crafty it. When
1 began my forty days fasting I said to
my stomach: Here, old fellow, I have q
lob for Won want Won to a a mood