The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10
NOT MANY BURIED ALIVE.
THE siGNS or DEATH SURE Re-
YOND MISTAKE.

certainty hubt AVH H"N A"H NVtHo
Many persons live in fear of being buried alive
This Is a pity, since 1t is so easy.to distinguish
apparent death from real death. AT least, tina
Is the case in this country. In Italy 1t seems t.
be different, Tho doctors there declare that III
to tho present time no infallible test for distin
gushing apparent from real death has been dis
covered. In consequence OF which horrifyinl
cases OF persons buried alive occur from time Il
time.
Who told these doctors that these persons
were buried alivoY Tho victims could not pos
sibly live long enough 4 in their collins TO do sc
themselves; and, even IL 1t has been found that
a few of them have turned over In their graves
it Is no sign that they were alive when they did
so. There Is such n thing as post-mortem con.
t%ractility In Italy as we'll as in America. How
ever, italian physicians and laymen are at pres
ent engaged in preparing an exhaustive report,
with exhibits. on the subject of Apparent
Death and Premature Burial, and this report
ment at the National Exposition to be opened at
through Ambassadors and Ministers, has OK
tended an invitation to othor nations to take
part In this branch Of the Exp sition.
When asked to talk about premature burial.
from real death, Or. George +. shrady Of this
city. said:
fear being buried alive. and more astonishing
tue number who have their. dead disinterred TO
see II they have been buried alive. This Is done
quietly and does not reach the cars of the pub
lie. A child takes q notion that It's mother has
been buried alive or a husband concludes in his
was not dead. and the bodies are taken up to sat
isfy distorted imagination.
buried alive. Ali Of these horrible stories about
premature bmrials are on a par with the ghost
BILE they are the more readily are they believed.
These stories are circulated usually in times of
an epidemic, when bodies have to be disposed
dalton in truth. because frequently after death
bodies show a muscul r action. Especially is
would think that an epidemic OF premature
burials was in progress. stories of them are told
SO often and reiold and told again, being added
"In almost all cases where burials are said to
have. been premature they have been ~investi-
gated by unscientitic. persons. Physicians do
not mako any tests of deaf ordinarily when a
patient dies. 1t is altogether unnecessary for
doubt in his practice as to whether q patient is
really dead or not. don't think there can be
such Ia a thing as pF re q sCient GSri4 nn when a bppd syy
physiognomy of death is SO well known that it
hardly needs q description: In truth. it seems
pallid lip. the dropped jaw, the lustreless eye,
and so on. Besides. any old nurse can see the
gray veil. and that describes il about as aocu.
"of course, death approaches differently in
through the brain; |ometimes through the
heart. and again thro! Sh the lungs. All signs
death is expected by them. Death comes as a
regular, logical conclusion, and ! have never yet
heard OF u scientific doctor pronouncing a live
patient dead.
Cases OF apparent death are very rare, so of
course cases OF premature burial are still rarer.
There are conditions of trance where patients
are apparently dead for days at a time. to tho
ordinary observer. A person in such a condi-
in the woods, or we might say that a miner could
fall IN a cataleptic state and be buried prema-
turcly by his fellow miners; but these possibili-
ties would not be realized once in a million
cases. There are too many conditions to take
into account.
"rhe seat Of vital power is the heart. When
that ceases to beat, a person is as dead as julius
Cesar. An imaginative, excitable layman could
not listen to the heart and distinguish a case OF
apparent from real death, but a doctor has no
trouble in doing this. We have all sorts OF talk
about how Ions. the heart can stop and then
cult to prove. 1t is said of cases of drowning
r resam atasF he ns I b bnte than m'f IS Ssr ths c hedfs ab bas
for it would have to be proved that the patient
was actually immersed all that period. 1t is a
well.known fact that in cases of accident in the
water persons on shore lose all idea of time. and
say that they have been there an hour whom in
hour. Very often the heart goes. through con.
yulsivc throbbings even after it has ceased TO
d eat !uf It A LOOKS 0I tnsn i as sti L nature at Fs' dresse ai's fo
give up her task, and the heart was saying: L
am not zone yet
there is any at all. IS in cases OF sudden death in
times of epidemic. Over n century ago several
morluar%, chambers were established in Ger.
many. The first was At Weimar, and the second
at Munich. Dead bodies were brought to these
places and watched closely by medical men.
During tho first forty.eight hours after death a
bell rope is attached TO the hand Of the corpse so
that in case cid, death .ina was ,hs not lot, real ths slightest
hundred years only once has the sound OF Il bell
been heard in any OF those mortuary chambers.
and then u wosdue TO tho relaxation OF 1.-THE stiff
ITO distinguish apparent from. real death
many things have to be taken into account. The
signs Of real death are manifold. There is respi-
ration; breathing, however. often stops before
the heart ceases to beat. The disappearance of
the instant that death occurs the eye loses it's
iustre. the pupil dilates., and a tllm comes over
thought the moving up apd down Of a patients
Adams apple an i%nfallible sign Of real death.
tory centre. and patients never recover after
this condition is reached. Inability to swallow.
which shows the inability of the nerve centre to
points TO the approach OF death. But all these
signs. except The eeasing Of the heart 70 beat,
infallible sign of real death.
There are a great many tests Of DEATH, Tho
most common. 1t was first applied by the old
German nurses. and id the foundation for
after all it Is no test. for often some signs
OF decomposition are mistaken for life. A
patient might gasp and tho vapor be on the
composition had act in. This expulsion of air
from the lungs is due TO the fact
that the stomach becomes bloatcd and
illied with gases after decomposition sets in.
These gases arise and expel the latent air from
the finger. Ii the heart continues to act. the
finger becomes contested. One method OF dis
gushing death is to burn the body with a hot
needle or a hot hammer. II no Inflammation
results, but merely Il plain blister. the patient is
dead. Mustard p%lnsters and blisters also are
applied as n test. The fame Of a candle some
times is placed "a little way from the finger. If
the patient is dead the heat raises an air blister.
persons who fear premature burial often
make a request to be bled in order TO be sure
that d ath Is real. One man know of left q re-
quest in his will that one of his toes be ampu-
tated. and this was done to carry out the pro-
visions OF his will. There Is a fallacy about this
bleeoing test, however. Immediately after
death one is not apt to bleed; later the blood
oozes out on account of the pressure of the gases
on the heart and other organs.
The eye becomes relaxed at the moment of
real death, but not at that OF apparent death.
Tho tension of circulation 10 taken Off and u pe-
culiar speck comes on The white OF the eye which
has the appearance OF II speck on parchment.
This indication of death was observed first
by tshwumen, who used to watch the eyes of
their fish. One, l might say, absolute sign of