  DURATION OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS. The differences observed in the length of time that persons have remained in this condition depended, doubtless, upon the constitutional peculiarities of the patients—such as strength or weakness—or upon the nature of the disease from which they may have suffered. Struve, in his Essay, pp. 34-98, says “that it depends upon the proportion of vital power in the individual. Hence children and young persons will endure longer than the aged. Also upon the nature of the element in which the accident happened, whether it contained greater or less proportion of oxygenated or carbonic acid gas, or other poisonous vapours. The latent vital power seems to be much longer preserved when animation has been suspended by cold. A man revived after being under snow forty hours. Persons apparently dead sometimes awake after an interval of seven days, as was the case with Lady Russell.... In the female sex, the suspension of vital power, spasms, fainting fits, etc., originating from a hysterical, feeble constitution, are not rare, nor is it improbable that the state of apparent death may be of longer duration with them; nay, it may be looked upon as a periodical disorder, in which all susceptibility of irritation is extinguished.” Struve further remarks, p. 98, “that the state in which the vital M. JOSAT’S OBSERVATIONS. M. Josat, in “De la Mort et de ses CaractÈres,” gives the result of his own observations in one hundred and sixty-two instances, in which apparent death lasted—
The order of frequency of diseases in which these occurred was as follows:—Asphyxia, hysteria, apoplexy, narcotism, concussion of the brain, the cases of concussion being the shortest. The length of time a person may live in the grave will depend upon similar concomitant conditions; but all things considered, a person buried while in a state of trance, catalepsy, asphyxia, narcotism, nervous shock, etc., and in any of the other states that cause apparent death without passing through a course of disease, and that occur during his or her usual health, will have a longer struggle before life becomes extinct than one whose strength had been exhausted by an attack of sickness. Estimates of the duration of such a struggle differ considerably. Some writers believe that “however intense, Dr. Charles Londe, in his “La Mort Apparent,” remarks:—“It has been calculated that, after one quarter of the quantity of atmospheric air contained in the coffin—approximately estimated at one hundred and twenty litres—was exhausted, death would set in; Some allowance should be made for the persistence of the vital energy, which continues after all atmospheric air is cut off. “Experiments on dogs show that the average duration of the respiratory movements after the animal has been deprived of air is four minutes five seconds. The duration of the heart’s action is seven minutes eleven seconds. The average of the heart’s action after the animal has ceased to make respiratory efforts is three minutes fifteen seconds. These experiments further showed that a dog may be deprived of air during three minutes fifty seconds, and afterwards recover without the application of artificial means.” PERSISTENCE OF LIFE. Prof. P. Brouardel, M.D., Paris, in “La Morte SubitÉ,” p. 35, observes that:—“A dog, placed in a common coffin, lived five to six hours; but a dog occupies less room than a man, who, in such a coffin, when closed, would not have more than one hundred litres, so he would possibly live twenty minutes. I would not wish anybody to pass twenty such cruel minutes.” “Mr. Bernard, a skilful surgeon of Paris, certified that, in the parish of Riol, he himself, and several other bystanders, saw a monk of the Order of St. Francis, who had been buried for three or four days, taken from his grave breathing and alive, with his arms lacerated near In a volume, entitled “Information Relative to Persons who have been Buried Alive,” by Heinrich Friedrich KÖppen, Halle, 1799, dedicated to Frederick William III., King of Prussia, and Louise, Queen of Prussia, are the nine following amongst many other cases:— “England.—Lady Russell, wife of a colonel in the army, was considered dead, and only through the tender affection of her husband was she saved from living burial. He would not allow her to be taken away until decomposition would absolutely force him to do so. After seven days, however, in the evening, when the bells were ringing, the faithful husband had the triumph to see her eyes open and her return to full consciousness.” “Halle, Germany.—Medical Professor Junker, in Halle, a very humane man, had a corpse of a suicide—by hanging—delivered for dissection at his college. He was placed on a table in the dissecting room, and covered with a cloth. About midnight, while the professor was sitting at his writing-table in an adjoining room, he heard a great noise in the dissecting room, and fearing that cats were gnawing at the corpses, he went out, and saw the cloth in a disturbed condition, and on lifting it up found the corpse missing. As all the doors and windows were closed, he searched the room, and found the missing one crouching in a corner, trembling with cold, in the terror of death. He besought the professor for mercy, help, and means for escape, as he was a deserter from the army, and he would be severely punished if caught. After consideration the kind professor clothed him, and “Leipsic.—The wife of the publisher, MathÄus Hornisch, died, and, according to the custom of the times, the coffin was opened before being put into the ground. The grave-digger noticed golden rings on her fingers, and in the following night went to the grave to steal them—which he found was not easy to do—when suddenly she drew back her arm. The robber ran away frightened, leaving his lantern at the grave. The woman recovered, but could not make out where she was, and cried for help. No one heard her; so she got out of the grave, took the lantern, and went to her home. Knocking at the door, the servant called to know who it was. She replied, “Your mistress. Open the door; I am cold, and freezing to death.” The master was called; and happily she was restored to her home again, where she lived for several years longer.” “Pavese, Italy, 1787.—A clergyman was buried, and noises were heard in his grave afterwards. Upon opening the grave and the coffin, the man was found alive, and violently trembling with fright.” “Paris, 1787.—A carpenter was buried, noises were heard proceeding from his grave, and upon opening it he was found to be breathing. He was taken to his home, where he recovered.” DR. KÖPPEN’S CASES. “Stadamhof, 1785.—A young, healthy girl, on the way to a wedding, had an apoplectic stroke, as it was thought, and fell as if dead. The following day she was buried. The grave-digger, who was occupied near her grave that night, heard noises in it, and being superstitious ran home in fright. The following morning he returned to finish a grave he was digging, and heard the whining again from the girl’s grave. He called for help, the grave was opened, when they found the girl turned over, her face scratched and bloody, her fingers bitten, and her mouth full of blood. She was dead, with evidences of most dreadful suffering.” “France.—Madame Lacour died after a long sickness, and was buried in a vault of a church, with all her jewels on. Her maid and the sexton opened the coffin the following night to steal the jewellery, when some hot wax from the candle they were using “Lyons, France.—The wife of a merchant died. Two days after her seeming death, and just before the time set for her burial, her husband, who, it seems, had some doubts as to her death, had her taken from the coffin, and had a scarifier used in cupping applied in twenty-five places without bringing any blood, but the twenty-sixth application brought her to consciousness with a scream, and she recovered completely.” “Cadillac.—A woman had been buried in the morning. In the following morning whining was heard in her grave. It was opened, and the woman was found still alive, but she had mutilated half of her right arm and the whole hand. She was finally restored.” The Spectator, October 11, 1895, publishes particulars of a recent case of recovery, after three days’ interment, in Ireland. See pp. 111, 112 in this volume. KÖppen’s investigations led him to observe that—“Human life may appear to come to a stop, and no one can say it will not go on again, if time enough is allowed for it to do so. This even the most learned in medicine cannot explain away or deny; and the greatest precaution should be taken before death is declared to exist.” |
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