Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-01-06
HOW SCIENCE SAVES
ONE FROM BEING
BURIED ALIVE
Curious and General Fear
Causes Close Examination
of All Tests to Insure That
Life is Extinct.

u t1h ~ NAN R0RJNtN " Pi0
mature burial because of a peculiar
win made by a wealthy IL
which she stipulated that her executor
take every precaution against her be
ing buried alive.
That this fear is widespread may bt
seen from the fact that il Is at inter
walls brought before the public through
the discussions of societies-notablS
the Medico-Legal, before which body
an apparatus was shown, the object oil
which was to prevent the killing OF
one prematurely buried and the com
munieation of the act that he was
alive to the sexton or some person
near.
The working of the apparatus Is
simple and good. it is said, but as
there was room for Improvement II
has gone to the repair shop. For this
reason IT cannot be seen. Count Ka-
nick of Paris. is the inventor. Strange
to say orders for the invention have
not come in to a large extent, al
though some time-a year-has eiaps-
ed since it was presented in New York.
Possibly the inventor did not place II
on the market in the right way. The
invention being simple and cheap.
makes II possible for cemeteries to use
not been in proportion to the fear off
premature burial.
Soon after the presentation of this
apparatus, the Medico-Legal society
took steps to investigate premature
burial. 1t found IL almost impossible
to get available statistics. yet enough
data was obtained to cause IL to real
ize that better laws in regard to bur
ial and burial certificates are needed.
Legislation was tried. and failed. As
the law now and at the health de-
partment any person can be buried
when a physician signs the certificate.
No tests are insisted upon; no n
questions the death. That crime may
be covered by a certificate no one may
question.
One Narrow Escape.
/ earned of the case of a u
girl now living on the outskirts of
Brooklyn who but for the fact that a
relative saw her finger move lust at
the moment the undertaken was about
to screw down the lid. would have
been buried alive. She was never told
of the circumstance, so | may not
mention the name. A man told me of
a relative OF his who was found sitting
In a family vault. A skeleton. He was
a strong man and must have burst his
coffin. yet could not get out of the
vault.
h average doctor laughs at pre-
mature burial. Yet occasionally, when
disinterment takes place. bodies are
found which. give plain evidence Of life
having existed after burial. Horrible
details, unfortunately, are plenty.
Many cases are cited which are au-
thentic, and as they occurred as late
as 1905. and are by an eminent physi-
clan Of London, Colonel f.. T. Vol
lum, NJ. d., they are not to be ques-
toned. The book is in any medica. IL
brary and may be seen by anyone.
Man is peculiarly formed. and his
makeup may not be gagged BY phys
iology. To the East Indians mind,
mans physiology is the least of him
and is dominated by the astral
which. indeed, mi leave the body in
a trance. and. travelling, return 10 II
at willard the ego. There are inter-
esting stories in a volume in the med
zeal library of exhibitions of this kind
in India. where the men voluntarily
allowed themselves to be buried after
they had thrown themselves into a
trance. That these were not fake
exhibitions are guaranteed by English
officers who superintendent and watch
ed these cases. Suspended animation,
mans psychology, the astral, are all
understood by the intelligent Eastern
er. who marvels at our ignorance of
our total getup. To him these things
are not marvels. /
frances OF Hindoos,
I once heard Swami Abedananda
lecture upon Immortality" In the
course of this lecture he said that
many people are buried alive, asked
him il cessation of circulation does
not prove death. He said IL did not,
for a low activity OF the cells exists af-
ter the blood ceases to flow. He fur
ther explained that vitality In such
cases goes to the nerve eenters and
does not manifest itself in motion or
life.
| learned from an undertaken of a
girl Who was cofined alive. This "a
saws the doctor in the case gave a GER
tiicate of burial. which was handed TO
him by the family. He examined the
girls ewes and told the family he
doubted her death. M doctor as
serted again the girl was dead. and
with blind faith in him they insisted
upon her burial. strange to say. The
undertaken. however, SAYS he succeed
ed in having them agree to place her
in a vau!t with a glass over the face
thinking she could make herself heard
in the vault II she regained conscious
ness. Later she was found with her
face cut-the glass broken-dead-
Presumably she died from fright. for
the undertaken SAYS he ould have
heard had she screamed in the vault.
A physician Of standing in a medi-
cal newspaper SAYS: "All bodily ac-
tivity depends upon combustion, and
N~NllnuNNARN requires NNE-EMs ~ .
then goes on TO tell how much cubic
air a man consumes in breathing and
how soon the air IN a cOfin NAV be
exhausted. Also how impossible II
would be to live I'm the cOGin. owing
10 the fact that we poison the air by
cur breath in throwing on nitrogen.
In his treatise he speaks of carbon
diONide. which he SAYS would rapidly
make the air of a OH fatal. He
says that in cases Of tranc or suspend
ed animation little air is needed. He
speaks Of alternating animals which
live Tor months In q state OF trance.
and OF sleeping dervishes who initiate
these animals.
A Swami once sale hat these
frances NAV not Ma continue for
months. but Tor Nears A t~heusophist
spoke OF the ancient Druids. VINO. he
said. understood this subject of RANGES
We'll Tie says that they and also East
Indians leave the body. the astral go-
ing ouf al viii. which is cared for hy
some ene Whn places u in am alright
palace when theasfra. wishes 90 re-
turn m duas sn.
Nhe afHeks and Nqmans kneW fhat
death Del fnrn tnuntsrffited in trance
Nhf STATES Ihe Germans tldsr iu
HermEnF and tFf Austuans m Austria
HaFr uNI fuarifs Hr.IH bodies lff
.ruI HHHl I~uurlHffInn sea m shs
being tHI fHilE y HnIf evidence Hf Z
5000 position " uHI IHnfilsr n
"a H1H r.t0 rHIIarUe III death. a.
|H.. .aU. IfI.. NH .UH au.I $3.50.