The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-12-15
upon PREMATURE BURIAL
DIR. GEORGE +. SHRADY SHOWS
THE PALACES OF STORIES.
Interesting Interview Upon II Some
what Gruesome Subject Republish-
ed From the Washington Star.

Many persons live in fear of being
buried alive. This is pity, since it
is so easy TO distinguish apparent
death from real DEATH at least this is
the case in this country. In Italy it
seems to be different. The doctors
there declare that up to the present
time no infallible test for distingu-
ishing apparent from real death has
been discovered in consequence OF
which horrifying cases of persons be-
ing buried alive occur from time to
time.
Who told these doctors that these
persons were buried alive? The Vie
Tins could not possibly live long
enough in their collins to do so them
selves; and even if it has been found
that few of them turned over in
their graves it is no sign that they
were alive when they did so. There
is such thing as post mortem con-
tractability in Italy as well as in
America. However, Italian physicians
and laymen are at present engaged IN
preparing a report, with exhibits, on
the subject of the apparent Death
and Premature Burial and this re-
port will be the main feature of the
medical department at the national
exposition to be opened at Turin in
April, 1898. The Italian government,
through ambassadors and ministers,
has extended an invitation to other
nations to take part in this branch
of the exposition.
When asked to talk about premature
burial and more especially how to dis
tinguish apparent from real death,
DR.. George f. Shrady of New York,
said:
1T is really astonishing how many
persons fear being buried alive, and
more astonishing the number VINO
have their dead disinterred to see if
they have been buried alive. This is
done quietly and does not reach the
ears of the public. \ child takes a
notion that its mother has been bur-
led alive or husband concludes in
his hopeless grief that perhaps, after
all, his wife was not dead, and the
bodies are taken up to satisfy distort-
ed imagination.
There is little if any danger of a
body being buried alive. All of these
horrible stories about premature bu-
rial are on par with the ghost sto-
ries told in the nursery; the more i'm
probable they are the more readily
they are believed. These stories are
circulated usually in times of an ep-
idemic, when bodies have to be dis
posed of quickly. Many of them do
seem to have a foundation in truth,
because frequently after death bodies
show a muscular action. Especially
is this true of victims of cholera. And
sometimes one would think that an
epidemic of premature burials was in
progress. stories of them are told so
often. and retold and told again, being
added to with each telling.
THE greatest danger of premature
burials, if there is any at all, is in
cases of sudden death at times of ep-
idemic. Over a century ago several
mortuary chambers were established
in Germany. The first was at Wei
mer and the second at Munich. Dead
bodies were brought to these places
and watched closely by medical men.
During the first forty-eight hours af-
ter death a bell rope is attached to
the hand of the corpse, so that in case
death was not real the slightest move
ii'Sho WIN ing tiic bSll LII uiltSt
hundred years only once has the loud
sound of bell been heard in any of
these mortuary chambers, and then it
was due to the relaxation of the stiff
fened hand of corpse.
"Not all persons when they die are
absolutely cold. Different diseases
produce different temperatures. The
higher the temperature has been the
longer it takes the. body to cool, and
young persons hold heat much longer
after death than old ones. A corpse
often has the appearance of breath
ing to those looking at it, This is
the association of the habit of vision
with life.
"All this talk about death, apparent
death and premature burials brings
us down to one vital question. How
long could life be maintained in a
coffin? An experiment on a dog in n
coffin showed that the animal lived
five or six hours. A body in an or
binary coffin gets only three or four
cubic feet of air. and that would keep
one alive only fifteen or twenty min
utes. So those who trouble them
selves about being buried when only
apparently dead may rest assured
that if such an improbability were re-
allied they would not live to hear the
last hymn sung at their funeral"