FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
MANY of those who are most familiar with the phenomena of life and
death, including celebrated physicians, men of science, and clergymen,
knowing that all the ordinary signs of death (referred to in another
chapter) have, in practice, sometimes proved delusive, have been a prey
to the suspicion that a fatal mistake is possible in their own case.
They have, therefore, left precise instructions in their wills for
various preventives which experience has shown to be necessary, and in
some instances a combination of these, so as to make doubly sure that
they shall not be subjected, like thousands of human beings, to the
unspeakable horrors of being buried alive.
Mr. Horace Welby, in his volume entitled “Mysteries of Life, Death,
and Futurity,” 1861, under the head of “Premature Interment,” p.
114, says:--“How prevalent is the fear of being buried alive may be
gathered from the number of instances in which men have requested that,
before the last offices are done for them, such wounds or mutilations
should be inflicted upon their bodies as would effectually prevent
the possibility of an awakening in the tomb. Dr. Dibdin relates that
Francis Douce, the antiquary, requested, in his will, that Sir Anthony
Carlisle, the surgeon, should sever his head from his body, or take out
his heart, to prevent the return of vitality; and his co-residuary
legatee, Mr. Kerrick, has also requested the same operation to be
performed in the presence of his son.”
Bishop Berkeley, Daniel O’Connell, and the late Lord Lytton entertained
similar apprehensions. Wilkie Collins had a like fear, for he always
left on his dressing-table a letter in which he solemnly enjoined
his people that, if he were found dead in the morning, he should at
once be carefully examined by a doctor. Hans Christian Andersen had a
similar dread, and carried in his pocket a note to the effect that,
when the time came, his friends were to make sure that he was really
dead before burial. Harriet Martineau left her doctor ten pounds to see
that her head was amputated before burial. The dread of being buried
alive dictated a clause in the will of the distinguished actress, the
late Miss Ada Cavendish, for the severance of the jugular vein; and
prompted the late Mr. Edmund Yates to leave similar instructions, with
the provision that a fee of twenty guineas should be paid for the
operation, which was carried out. Mr. John Rose, of New York, who died
in November, 1895, made known his earnest desire that his coffin should
not be closed, but laid in the family vault at Roseton, and guarded day
and night by two caretakers, who were instructed to watch for signs of
reanimation.
The late Lady Burton, widow of Sir Richard Burton, provided that her
heart was to be pierced with a needle, and her body to be submitted to
a _post-mortem_ examination, and afterwards embalmed (not stuffed) by
competent experts. Lady Burton, it is said, had been subject to fits of
trance on more than one occasion, and was terribly afraid that such an
attack might be diagnosed as death.
Those who are most apprehensive of apparent death being mistaken for
real death are the clergy and other ministers of religion, and funeral
directors--in other words, those who know most about it.
Let anyone introduce the subject when in company, on a suitable
occasion, and we shall hear of startling cases sufficient to shake
credulity, and to compel us to realise the danger to ourselves, as
well as to all other members of the community, under our present loose
customs. If this dread of premature burial is not universal, as some
writers and authorities aver, it is certainly widely extended; and
the evidence set before our readers will show that it is by no means
without foundation.
[WIDELY EXTENDED.]
The _Lancet_, March 17, 1866, says:--“There are many apparently
trustworthy stories afloat, both in this country and on the Continent,
which favour the belief that premature interment not only does
sometimes take place, but is really of not so unfrequent occurrence as
might be supposed. Some few believe it to be not an unlikely event, and
break out into a cold perspiration at the thought of the possibility
of the misfortune happening to themselves. Others have actually made
provision in their wills that means should be taken, by cutting off a
finger, or making a pectoral incision, etc., to excite sensibility,
in case any should remain after their supposed death; whilst a French
countess, in order to escape so terrible a fate, left a legacy to her
medical attendant as a fee for his severance of the carotid artery in
her body before it was committed to the tomb.”
The Rev. John Kingston, chaplain R.N., writing to the (London) _Morning
Post_, September 18, 1895, says--“The danger of being buried alive
appears to be a very real one; and I can testify, from my experience as
a clergyman, that a great many persons are haunted by the dread of that
unspeakably horrible fate.” The writer further expresses a hope that
the ventilation of the subject will be followed by practical results.
While speaking on the subject of premature burials, in a lecture
delivered at Everett Hall, Brooklyn, New York, June, 1883, Mr. J. D.
Beugless, the then President of the New York Cremation Society, said
that an undertaker in that city (Brooklyn) recently made provision in
his will, and exacted a promise from his wife of great caution, that
his body should be cremated, being induced thereto by the fear of being
buried alive. “Live burials,” he says, “are far more frequent than most
people think.” It is reported that another undertaker of Brooklyn some
time since deposited a body in a receiving vault temporarily: when he
went some days later to remove it for burial, what was his horror, upon
opening the niche in which the coffin had been placed, to find the body
crouching at the door, stark in death, the hair dishevelled, the flesh
of the arms lacerated and torn, and the face having the most appalling
expression of horror and despair ever witnessed by mortal eyes!
An undertaker, writing to the _Plymouth Morning News_, October 2, 1895,
mentions that he reluctantly buried a young person, who lay in the
coffin for seven clear days without sign of decomposition, and only
consented to close the coffin then, on the assurance that the same
conditions attended all the deaths which had previously occurred in the
family. Dr. Hartmann and other authorities have found that such cases
are probably the subjects of catalepsy, a malady which sometimes runs
in families and affects every member. The undertaker adds that, in
future, he should decline to close the coffin of the apparently dead
until signs of decomposition set in, “thus preventing the possibility
of our worst fears being realised.” If undertakers generally would
adopt these wise and necessary precautions, living sepulture would
come to an end. Under the existing imperfect system of medical
examination--and, as we have shown, both in England and in the United
States, where there is usually no examination at all--there is often
a reckless haste in interments. No thoughtful persons can contemplate
the burial of a million and a half human beings annually in these two
countries without mistrust and misgivings.
Many well-to-do people in civilised countries provide in their wills
for the prevention of premature interment, by leaving instructions for
surgical operations after their decease, _post-mortems_, embalmment,
or cremation. It may happen, however, that wills are mislaid, lost,
or withheld by the testators, or are not opened and read until after
the funeral, when the instructions in this regard, however strictly
enjoined, are rendered abortive. Legacies should be given conditionally
on the observance of certain duties, and only payable on proofs to
the executors that they have been carried out. A large majority of
people do not, however, leave testamentary instructions, for the
simple reason that they have nothing to bequeath. And the majority
have an equal claim with the minority to be safeguarded by the State
against such terrible misfortunes. Syncope, sometimes mistaken for
death, is a condition to which both men and women, who are compelled
by their poverty in all large cities to endure exhausting labours in
ill-ventilated work-rooms, and their often ill-nourished children in
board schools in England and in the public schools in America, are
peculiarly liable.