[1] “The Recovery of the Apparently Dead,” by Charles Kite, Member of the Corporation of Surgeons in London, and Surgeon at Gravesend in Kent. London, 1788.
[2] “Histoire de la MÉdecine,” La Haye, 1729, p. 333.
[3] “LinnÆan Transactions,” 1797, vol. iv., p. 155. “An Account of the Jumping Mouse of Canada—Dipus Canadensis.”
[7]Health, May 21, 1886, edited by Dr. Andrew Wilson, pp. 120-1. After relating other cases, Surgeon Curran continues:—“I have myself personally seen or heard on the spot of three such cases—cases that in other hands or in other localities might have passed as dead, were they not buried as such accordingly.”
[8] For the antiquity of the Jewish practice of early burial, see note in Appendix.
[12] Tidy, “Legal Medicine,” part i., pp. 279-280.
[13] In the 3rd ed., by Dr. Pye Smith, the following occurs at p. 817 of vol. i., under “Trance”:—“These are the cases which have led to the popular belief that death is sometimes only apparent, and that there may be a danger of persons being buried alive; and it cannot be denied that a patient in such a condition might easily be allowed to die by careless or ignorant attendants, or might be buried before death.”
[15] “Premature Burial: An Examination into the Occult Causes of Apparent Death, Trance, and Catalepsy.” By Franz Hartmann, M.D. Second Edition. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. (One Shilling).
[16] “Pour se convaincre de l’erreur oÙ l’on tomberait en adoptant cette opinion populaire, il suffit de reflÉchir d’abord qu’un cercueil n’est pas exactement moulÉ sur les proportions du corps qu’il contient; que, par consequent, tous les intervalles sont remplis d’air respirable, en quantitÉ trÈs-grande, Égale À-peu-prÈs À un cube dont le cÔtÉ aurait 50 centimÈtres de hauteur. Or, chaque inspiration absorbe environ 1,200 centimÈtres cubes d’air dont l’oxygÈne n’est employÉ dans l’hÉmatose que pour sa cinquiÈme partie, le reste Étant rendu pendant l’expiration; il en resulte donc que chaque inspiration ne consomme en rÉalitÉ que 240 centimÈtres cubes. L’homme, À l’État normal, respire À-peu-prÈs 800 fois par heure; et, comme un cube de 50 centimÈtres de cÔtÉ contient 125,000 centimÈtres cubes, on doit conclure que cette quantitÉ d’air peut suffire À 520 inspirations normales, c’est À dire À soutenir la vie pendant prÈs de trois quarts d’heure. Mais, d’un autre cÔtÉ, il est dÉmontrÉ, en botanique, que l’air filtre dans la terre; celui contenu dans le cercueil peut donc en partie se renouveler. On doit nÉcessairement tenir compte de la nature du terrain oÙ le cercueil À ÉtÉ dÉposÉ; s’il est sec, lÉger ou sablonneux, il laissera pÉnÉtrer, circuler pour, ainsi dire, l’air atmosphÉrique plus facilement, que des terres humides, grasses ou argileuses. Ajoutons enfin, que les quantitÉs determinÉes plus haut pourraient Être rÉduites de plus de moitiÉ, sans causer directement la mort. On voit donc qu’un homme peut vivre sous terre pendant plusieurs heures, et que ce temps sera d’autant plus court que le sujet sera plus plÉthorique, c’est-À-dire predisposÉ aux congestions cÉrÉbrales, puisque, dans ce cas, ses inspirations seront plus larges et plus frequentes.”
[17] Report on “Suspended Animation.” By a Committee of the Royal Med. Chirur. Society, July 12, 1862.
[18] The British Medical Journal, August 15, 1894, p. 381, reports a “Discussion on the Overcrowding of the Profession,” in which Dr. Frederick H. Alderson says:—“The very crowded condition of the medical profession concerns a very large body of the profession; neither is the evil limited to any particular section of it. Our physicians are too numerous, our surgeons alike too many, and our general practitioners are legion.”
[19] Quoted by Dr. Franz Hartmann in “Premature Burial.”
[20] Alas for the futility of human expectations of reform when left to the initiation of Governments—this was written twenty-seven years ago, and nothing has been done to remedy the evil!
[21] During the five years ending 1895 the population of France, where of all European countries premature burial is most in vogue, has increased by only 133,819, or, leaving out the immigration of alien population, the increase is under 30,000. The population for all practical purposes may be regarded as stationary.
[22] With reference to the burial customs in Ireland, the Kings County Chronicle, Parsonstown, September 17, 1896, says:—“Young children are buried the day after death, but adults are waked for two, and sometimes three nights.”
