Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented

CHAPTER I.

TRANCE.

Of all the various forms of suspended animation and apparent death, trance and catalepsy are the least understood, and most likely to lead the subject of them to a premature burial; the laws which control them have perplexed pathologists in all ages, and appear to be as insoluble as those which govern life itself. Dr. Le Clerc, in his “History of Medicine,” records that “Heraclides, of Pontus, wrote a book concerning the causes of diseases, and another concerning the disease in which the patient is without respiration, in which he affirmed that in this disorder the patient sometimes continued thirty days without respiration, in such wise that he appeared dead, notwithstanding that there was no corruption of the body.”[2]

Dr. Herbert Mayo, in “Letters on Truths Contained in Popular Superstitions,” p. 34, says that “death-trance is the suspension of the action of the heart, and of breathing, and of voluntary motion—generally little sense of feeling and intelligence. With these phenomena is joined loss of external warmth, so that the usual evidence of life is gone. But there has occurred every shade of this condition that can be imagined, between occasional slight manifestations of suspension of one or other of the vital actions and their entire disparition.”

Macnish, who also asserts that the function of the heart must go on, and even of the respiration, however slightly, says—“No affection to which the animal frame is subject is more remarkable than this (catalepsy, or trance).... There is such an apparent extinction of every faculty essential to life, that it is inconceivable how existence should go on during the continuance of the fit.”—Philos. of Sleep, Glasgow, 1834, pp. 225-6.

In Quain’s “Dictionary of Medicine,” ii., p. 1063, Dr. Gowers says:—“The state now designated hypnotism is really induced trance, and trance has been accurately termed ‘spontaneous hypnotism’....

“The mental functions seem, in most cases, to be in complete abeyance. No manifestations of consciousness can be observed, or elicited by the most powerful cutaneous stimulation, and on recovery no recollection of the state is preserved. But in some cases volition only is lost, and the patient is aware of all that passes, although unable to give the slightest evidence of consciousness....

“In the cases in which the depression of the vital functions reaches an extreme degree, the patient appears dead to casual and sometimes to careful observation. This condition has been termed ‘death-trance,’ and has furnished the theme for many sensational stories, but the most ghastly incidents of fiction have been paralleled by well-authenticated facts. [The last clause appears in the new edition as follows:—“Persons have certainly been buried in this state, and during the recent epidemic of influenza an Italian narrowly escaped interment during the consequent trance.”]

“The duration of trance has varied from a few hours or days to several weeks, months, or even a year.

“Occasionally it is attended by some vaso-motor disturbance. In a well-authenticated case of death-trance the intense mental excitement produced by the preparations for fastening the coffin lid occasioned a sweat to break out over the body.”

CASE OF BENJAMIN DISRAELI.

Many notable men have at one time or another been subject to this disorder. Speaking of Benjamin Disraeli, Mr. J. Fitzgerald Molloy, in his “Life of the Gorgeous Lady Blessington,” vol. ii., pp. 37, 38, says that in his “youth he was seized with fits of giddiness, during which the world swung round him, he became abstracted, and once fell into a trance from which he did not recover for a week.”

LETHARGIC STUPOR, OR TRANCE.

The Lancet of December 22, 1883, pp. 1078-80, contains particulars from the pen of W. T. Gairdner, M.D., LL.D., etc., Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, of a remarkable case of trance, extending continuously over more than twenty-three weeks, which attracted a considerable amount of notoriety at the time and led to an extensive discussion. In his comments upon the case, the author continues, in the issue of January 5, 1884, pp. 5, 6:—

“The case recorded in the Lancet of December 22, 1883, p. 1078, has been left up to this point without remarks, other than those obviously suggested by the direct observation of the facts in comparison or contrast with those of other cases coming more or less under the designation above mentioned. But in perusing, even in the most cursory manner, the multitudinous literature pertaining to the subjects of ‘trance,’ ‘ecstasy,’ ‘catalepsy,’ etc., not to speak of the popular narratives which from a very remote antiquity have handed down the tradition of preternatural sleep as an element in the fairy tales of almost all languages, one is struck by the almost uncontrollable disposition to regard such cases as altogether outside the limits of true physiological science: as being, according to the expressive Scotch phrase, ‘no canny’—or, in other words, miraculous—and as involving questions connected with the unseen world, ‘the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns.’ So much is this the case, that, if in this nineteenth century the questions which presented themselves to Hippocrates in the treatise, pe?? ?e??? ???s?? (‘Concerning the Sacred Disease’), had to be rediscussed, it would certainly be in regard to some of the disorders mentioned above, and not as to epilepsy in its well-recognised clinical types, that the theory of a supernatural origin of the phenomena, whether favourably entertained or not, would fall to be argued. The irreconcilable differences of opinion in the Belgium Academy, as regards the quite modern instance of Louise Lateau, are sufficient to show that all the culture and the scientific instincts of the present age have not quite inaugurated the ‘reign of law,’ nor established finally the position that ‘miracles do not happen.’ On the other hand, the researches of M. Charcot and others seem to be ever extending the domain of science further into the region of the marvellous and the obscure, so that even the most pronounced cases of ‘demoniac possession’ of the olden time have become the commonplaces of hystero-epilepsy in the clinique of the SalpÉtriÈre. The peculiar interest of the present case is that it is altogether devoid of any of these adventitious, and more or less romantic, incidents. The patient is the mother of a family, and has lived a strictly domestic and (up to a short time before her seizure) healthy and regular life. There are no peculiar moral and religious problems to perplex the situation. There is no history of inveterate hysteria, or of long continued rapt contemplation; nor has there been the slightest evidence of any craving after notoriety, either before the attack or since its termination. The moral atmosphere, in short, surrounding the phenomena is altogether unfavourable to exaggeration and imposture, for which, indeed, no reasonable motive can be assigned. Nevertheless, under these very commonplace conditions, concurring with some degree of melancholy or mental despondency after delivery, but during a convalescence otherwise normal, Mrs. M’I—— presents to our notice a condition of suspended consciousness and disordered innervation in no degree less extreme than the ‘trances’ or cataleptic attacks which have been recorded as the result of the most aggravated hysteria, or as the miracles of religious ecstasy and profound mental emotion. She becomes for the long period of over a hundred and sixty days continuously an almost mindless automaton, connected with the external world only through a few insignificant reflexes and through the organic functions. She is absolutely passive as regards everything that demands spontaneous movement, and betrays almost no sign of sensation, general or special, when subjected to the severest tests that can be applied short of physical injury.”

In further notes upon the case, in the Lancet of January 12, 1884, p. 58, Professor Gairdner says:—

“The only other case to which I desire to make allusion at present is one in which I am, fortunately, in a position to furnish a sequel to an incomplete narrative, not without resemblance to the one lately published in this journal.CASE REPORTED BY PROF. W. T. GAIRDNER. ‘A Case of Trance’ was the subject of a paragraph in the British Medical Journal of May 31, 1879, p. 827, from which it appeared that in the London Hospital a woman, twenty-seven years of age, was at the time under the care of Dr. Langdon Down, being of rather small stature and weak mental capacity, and affected for at least two years with organic disease of the heart. About three weeks before the date of the report she had become suddenly somnolent, with most of the peculiarities in her sleep which have been already alluded to. She was fed partly by nutrient enemata, and for some days by a tube passed through the nostrils into the stomach. The resemblance is noted between this case and that of ‘the famous Welsh fasting girl,’ then attracting much attention in newspapers and otherwise. There being no further reference to this case in the journal, I wrote to Dr. Langdon Down, who kindly furnished me with the following additional particulars, which will, no doubt, be read even now with interest:—‘My patient, who was in a state of trance, recovered somewhat suddenly after about four weeks, and left the hospital. The first indication of returning consciousness was observed when I was reading to my class at her bedside one of the numerous letters that I had received entreating me not to have her buried until something which the writers recommended had been done. The paragraph of the medical journal got into some Welsh paper, and then went the round of the provincial press, hence the number of letters I received. This special one was from an old gentleman of eighty-four years, who, when he was twenty-four, was thought to be dead, and whose friends had assembled to follow him to the grave, when he heard the undertaker say, “Would anyone like to see the corpse before I screw him down?” The undertaker at the same time moved the head a little and struck it against the coffin, on which he aroused and sat up. On reading this aloud a visible smile passed over the face of my patient, and she returned to obvious consciousness soon after. She has not come under observation since she left the hospital.’

“Although this case is probably only one among many, I mention it here because the receipt of the letter just given led me to investigate more particularly the state of the hearing in Mrs. M’I.’s case, and also to try the experiment of reading aloud Dr. Down’s letter in her presence and that of the class. I had often remarked to bystanders that, although the subjects of these apparently unconscious states appeared inaccessible to the ordinary tests of sensibility, it was on record as regards some, even of those regarded as cases of ‘apparent death,’ that after recovery they affirm to have heard everything that passed, although unable to lift hand or foot to save themselves from premature burial. Neither the reading of the letter nor a violent shout into her ear produced any visible effects.”

Thomas More Madden, M.D., F.R.C.S. (Edin.), in an article on “Death’s Counterfeit,” in the Medical Press and Circular, vol. i., April 27, 1887, pp. 386-8, relates the following case “of so-called hysteric trance”:—

“A young lady, Miss R——, apparently in perfect health, went to her room after luncheon to make some change in her dress. A few minutes afterwards she was found lying on her bed in a profound sleep, from which she could not be awakened. When I first saw her, twenty-four hours later, she was sleeping tranquilly; the decubitus being dorsal, respiration scarcely perceptible, pulse seventy, and extremely small; her face was pallid, lips motionless, and the extremities very cold.DEATH’S COUNTERFEIT. At this moment, so death-like was her aspect, that a casual observer might have doubted the possibility of the vital spark still lingering in that apparently inanimate frame, on which no external stimulus seemed to produce any sensorial impression, with the exception that the pupils were normal and responded to light. Sinapisms were applied over the heart and to the legs, where they were left on until vesication was occasioned without causing any evidence of pain. Faradisation was also resorted to without effect. In this state she remained from the evening of December 31 until the afternoon of January 3, when the pulse became completely imperceptible; the surface of the body was icy cold, the respiratory movements apparently ceased, and her condition was to all outward appearance undistinguishable from death. Under the influence of repeated hypodermic injections of sulphuric ether and other remedies, however, she rallied somewhat, and her pulse and temperature improved. But she still slept on until the morning of the 9th, when she suddenly woke up, and, to the great astonishment of those about her, called for her clothes, which had been removed from their ordinary place, and wanted to come down to breakfast, without the least consciousness of what had occurred. Her recovery, I may add, was rapid and complete.

“The next case of lethargy that came under my notice was that of a boy, who, after an attack of fever, fell into a state of complete lethargic coma, in which he lay insensible between life and death for forty-seven days, and ultimately recovered perfectly.

“In a third instance of the same kind, in a lady under my care, the patient, after a lethargic sleep of twenty-seven days, recovered consciousness for a few hours, and then relapsed into her former comatose condition, in which she died.

“The fourth case of lethargy which I have seen was, like the first, a case of trance, which lasted for seventy hours, during which the flickering vital spark was only preserved from extinction by the involuntary action of the spinal and nervous centres. In this instance the patient finally recovered.

“The fifth and last instance of profound lethargy that has come within my own observation occurred last autumn in the Mater MisericordiÆ Hospital in a young woman.... In that instance, despite all that medical skill could suggest or unremitting attention could do, it was found impossible to arouse the patient from the apparently hysterical lethargic sleep in which she ultimately sank and died.”

I have referred to the foregoing cases, occurring in one physician’s experience, as disproving the general opinion that lethargy or trance is so rarely met with as to be of little medical importance. For my own part, I have no doubt that these conditions are of far more frequent occurrence than is generally supposed. Moreover, I have had reason to know that death is occasionally so exactly thus counterfeited that there is good cause for fearing the probability of living interment in some cases of hasty burial.

DR. MORE MADDEN’S OPINION.

Referring to death-trance, Dr. Madden observes, ib., p. 388—“Death-trance, or that profound degree of lethargy which closely counterfeits death, deserves greater attention than is generally paid to it as a pathological condition, as well as a possible cause of premature interment. For, unless we reject every statement, however well authenticated, of those who have witnessed such cases, merely because their experience does not tally with our preconceived opinions and wishes, neither the frequent occurrence of death-trance nor the fearful results of its non-recognition can be questioned.”

Mr. John Chippendale, F.R.C.S., writing to the Lancet, 1889, vol. i., p. 1173, on “Catalepsy.—Post-mortem Sweating,” says:—

“I may mention that there is a record of a man who during an illness was seized with trance, though, as he lay in what Claudio calls ‘cold abstraction,’ he was aware of all that was passing. At last, as he was about to be covered in his coffin, his mental condition was such that he broke into a profuse sweat, which was fortunately perceived, and he recovered and was able to recount his experiences.”

It would appear from the following telegram through Reuter’s Agency that trance is occasionally epidemic:—

[From Daily Telegraph, March 17, 1890.]

“A NEW DISEASE.

“Vienna, March 15, 1890.

“Several cases of a new disease, which originally appeared in Mantua immediately after the subsidence of the recent influenza epidemic, and to which the people of that city gave the name of ‘La nonna’—Anglice, ‘Falling asleep’—have occurred in the Comitat of Pressburg.

“Persons suffering from this complaint fall into a death-like trance, lasting about four days, out of which the patient wakes in a state of intense exhaustion. Recovery is very slow, but, so far, no fatal case has been reported.”

A correspondent writing to the English Mechanic September 13, 1895, says:—“I know one lady who has been three times prepared for burial, and very narrowly escaped it on the first occasion.” The author wrote to the writer for further details, and received a reply, dated September 19, 1895, from which it appears that the lady had married into a political family of considerable note, who would not care to have her identity disclosed. My correspondent says:—“ I know that she lay several days in a state not to be distinguished from death; that she was in her coffin, and, I believe, showed signs of life just as the coffin was about to be closed. On two subsequent occasions she passed into similar trances; but though believed to be dead, and treated as such, the previous experience prevented any idea of burial being entertained” until clear evidence of dissolution should appear.

The New York Weekly Witness of January 15, 1896, reports

“A LONG CATALEPTIC SLEEP

“Information was received at Milford, Pa., last Friday, that William Depue, a prominent citizen of Bushkill, Pike County, whose mind for seven years has been a blank, had suddenly returned to consciousness.

A SEVEN YEARS’ TRANCE.

“Seven years ago, while at work, Mr. Depue became ill. Doctors were summoned, but they could find no possible ailment. The sick man sank into a cataleptic sleep, from which medical science could not arouse him.

“At no time during the long period did he recognise any one, and food was given him through a tube inserted in his mouth. He lost no flesh, and was apparently as healthy as any man. Although the best medical men in the country were called to his bedside, his case baffled them all.

“Upon recovering his senses he set about his usual labours as if he had been asleep but the ordinary time. He remembers nothing that has taken place during his seven years’ trance.”

The following case appeared in the Middlesbrough Daily Gazette, February 9, 1896, and in a number of English papers:—

“The young Dutch maiden, Maria Cvetskens, who now lies asleep at Stevensworth, has beaten the record in the annals of somnolence. At the beginning of last month she had been asleep for nearly three hundred days. The doctors, who visit her in great numbers, are agreed that there is no deception in the case. Her parents are of excellent repute, and it has never occurred to them to make any financial profit out of the abnormal state of their daughter. As to the cause of the prolonged sleep, the doctors differ.”

Clyx.com