Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-12-13
FEW ARE BURIED ALIVE.
THE SIGNS OF DEATH SURE BEYOND
MISTAKE.
When the Heart Ceases Beating. the jaw
Drops, the Eye Loses Lustro, and the
Gray Veil Covers the Face, the Physi-
clan Knows That the End Has Come.

buried alive. This is pity, since it
is so easy to distinguish apparent
death from real death. When asked
to talk about premature burial, and
more especially how to distinguish ap-
parent from real death, DIR. George L.
Shrady, of this city, said:
'It is really astonishing how many
persons fear being buried alive, and
more astonishing the number who
have their dead disinterred to see if
they have heen buried alive. This is
done quietly and does not reach the
ears of the public. A child takes
notion that its mother has been buried
alive or a husband concludes in his
hopeless grief that perhaps, after all,
his wife was not dead, and tho bodies
are taken up to satisfy distorted ina
gination.
"There is little if any danger of
body being buried alive. All of these
horrible stories about premature buri-
ais are on par with the ghost stories
cold in the nursery; the more improba-
ole they are the mora readily are they
believed. These stories are circulated
usually in times of an epidemic, when
bodies have to be disposed of quickly.
''In almost all cases where burials
are said to have been premature they
have been investigated by unscientifc
persons. Physicians do not make any
tests of death ordinarily when pa
tient dies. 1t is altogether unneces-
sary for them to do SO. A. scientific
man is never in doubt in his practice
as to whether patient is really dead
or not. don't think there can be
such thing as premature burial
where body can be examined by
scientific physician. The physiognomy
of death is so well known that it
hardly needs description. In truth,
it seems almost absurd to talk about
it. There is the pallid lip, the
dropped jaw, the lustreless eyes, and
so on. Besides, any old nurse can see
the approach of death. The poet
speaks of it as gray veil, and that de-
scribes it about as accurately as any
thing.
"Of course, death approaches diff
ferently in different sets of diseases;
sometimes it comes through the brain;
sometimes through the heart, and
again through the lungs. All signs in
each are we'll understood by physi-
clans, and death is expected by them.
Death comes as regular, logical con-
clusion, and have never yet heard of
scientific doctor pronouncing live
patient dead.
Ceases of apparent death are very
rare, so of course cases of premature
burial are still rarer. There are con-
ditions of trance where patients are
apparently dead for days at time, to
the ordinary observer. A person in
such condition might be buried alive
out on the plains or in the woods, or
we might say that miner could fall in
a cataleptic state and be buried prema-
turely by his fellow miners; but these
possibilities would not be realized once
in million cases. There are too many
conditions to take into account. The
seat of vital power is the heart. When
that ceases to beat, person IS as dead
as Julius Cesar. An imaginative, ex-
!
Eeart and distinguish case of appar-
ent from real death, but doctor has
no trouble in doing this.
"The greatest danger of premature
burial, if there is any at all, is in cases
of sudden death in times of epidemic.
/ Over century ago several mortuary
| chambers were established in Germany.
] Hrc ot Wa,,, Il ln.g Il
at Munich. Dead bodies were brought
to these places and watched closely by
medical men. During the first forty
eight hours after death bell rope is
attached to the hand of the corpse so
that in case death was not real the
slightest movement will ring the bell.
In all of these hundred years only once
any of those mortuary chambers, and
then it was due to the relaxation of the
stifened hand of a corpse.
''To distinguish apparent from real
death many things have to be taken
into account. The signs of real death
are manifold. There is respiration
breathing, however, often stops before
bhS hthI U CCdoSo w DCdbs lht ulSdD
pearance of the pulse at the wrist il
another sign. Almost the instant'tha
death occurs the eye loses its lustre
the pupil dilates, and a film comes owe
the eye. Hippocrates, the father o
medicine, thought the moving up ant
down of a patients Adams apple al
infallible sign of real death. Tha
motion is due to paralysis of the res
piratory centre, and patients never re
cover after this condition is reached
Inability to swallow, which shows tn
inability of the nerve centre to presid
over the inherent vital forces, ais
points to the approach of death. Blu
all these signs, except the ceasing o
the heart to beat, are merely corrob
oratiye. That by itself is an infallibl
sign of real death.
Persons who fear premature buria
often make request to be bled il
order to be sure that death is real
One man know of left request il