THE
DANGER
OF
Premature Interment.
Plummer and Brewis, Printers,
Love-Lane, Eastcheap.
[Illustration:
_H. Corbould del._ _Hopwood sc._
_The body of Tulliolæ, the daughter of Cicero, discovered entire and
uncorrupted, in a Sepulchre, 1500 Years after Burial._
_Vide Page 127._
_Publish’d by W. Simpkin & R. Marshall Decʳ 1815._]
THE
DANGER
OF
_Premature Interment_,
PROVED FROM MANY
REMARKABLE INSTANCES
Of People who have recovered after being laid out for dead,
and of others entombed alive, for want of being
properly examined prior to Interment.
Also a Description of
The Manner the ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, and other NATIONS,
_Preserved and venerated their Dead_,
And a curious Account of their
SEPULCHRAL EVER BURNING LAMPS
And
Mausoleums.
Likewise the pernicious effects of burying in the body of
Churches, and confined Church Yards pointed out,
whereby many valuable lives have been lost
to the Public, and their Friends.
_SELECTED FROM HISTORICAL RECORDS._
BY
JOSEPH TAYLOR.
“_To revive nailed up in a Coffin! A return of Life in Darkness,
Distraction, and Despair! The Brain can scarce sustain the
reflection, in our coolest moments._”
_LONDON_:
PRINTED FOR W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL,
_Stationers Court, Ludgate-Street_.
1816.
INTRODUCTION.
Amongst the many dreadful calamities incident to human nature, none
surely is more horrid, nor can the thought be more appalling, than even
_in idea_ to be buried alive;--the very soul sickens at the thought.
Yet terribly frightful as the imagination paints such a dire event,
these things have been. Historical record clearly demonstrates the
melancholy truth, and many a valuable member of society, has, I am
fully persuaded, times past, been prematurely consigned to the grave
before the vital spark has been extinct. To prevent, if possible,
such deplorable events from _ever again_ happening, is my principal
motive in forming the present volume. The substance of a motto, I
have somewhere seen, several years since, on a silver medal, whereon
is prettily displayed the figure of a boy blowing with his mouth at
a piece of lighted charcoal nearly extinguished, in hopes of again
re-invigorating the flame, has ever since been indelibly impressed
on my mind. “Who knows,” says the motto, “but _one_ spark, may yet
remain alive.” And I would recommend a similar impression to be deeply
fixed on the minds of _every_ person, as a _standing criterion_ in
all doubtful cases between life and death. It is a duty incumbent on
ourselves, our friends and relatives, and the community at large, to
be thus particular in such a momentous affair. Who amongst us, give
me leave to ask, that has the least pretensions to common humanity,
would hesitate for a single moment to perform so generous, though
painful a duty, as that of carefully attending to the sad expiring
moments of a departing friend? The duty must be reciprocal to every
benevolent being, as sooner or later, the dreadful trial must be our
own. From a sad mistaken humanity, surrounding friends are sometimes
apt to persuade the nearest relatives that nothing more can be done
for the dying person, and therefore prevent them from performing those
kind offices of closing the eyes, and other marks of attention, which
can only be expected from those who are deeply interested. Surely such
a bounden duty as this, ought not to be left (as is too often the
case) to some wretched mercenary nurse, or greedy hireling? forbid
it humanity! I would recommend it to all surviving relatives, and
others, who are interested, and have been attending with the kindest
assiduity on the sick, not to desert their post, the moment the nurse
has reported the death of her patient, but in this trying hour, if
grief has not too much overpowered them, to exert every necessary
recollection, to calm their feelings as much as human nature will
permit, and if possible, not be persuaded to quit the room too hastily,
(unless contagion is apprehended) nor suffer the poor departed friend
to be stripped and pulled about, until indubitable signs clearly
demonstrate life is no more. Many of the stories in this volume,
well attested by regular bred professional gentlemen, of the highest
respectability, expatiates largely on this humane, and interesting
subject, and I would fain flatter myself, such necessary advice as they
impart on so very important a subject, will cause in future in every
family, a more than usual care and examination of their friends in the
hour of death, and prior to interment. Were we but to bear in our minds
the following animated lines from a celebrated poet, our attention to
dying friends would be unremitting.
“Spirits fly swift (our friend’s) perhaps is gone
A thousand leagues beyond the sun,
Or twice ten thousand more twice told,
Ere the forsaken clay is cold.
“And yet, who knows; the friends we lov’d,
They may not be so far remov’d;
Only the veil of flesh between,
May oft glide by us, tho’ unseen.
“While we (their loss lamenting) say,
They’re out of hearing, far away;
Guardians to us, perhaps they’re near
Conceal’d in vehicles of air.”
The danger which has arisen from burying in churches, and confined
church yards, is so clearly proved by several remarkable instances
in the present volume, that I shall say little more on the subject,
but refer my readers to those important truths for information. Where
it is absolutely necessary, a great number of dead bodies must be
deposited in one small piece of ground, I would recommend a plan to be
observed, something similar to the following, which I am of opinion,
would prevent great confusion and danger, when a new grave is about
to be opened. Let burying grounds in future, be divided into regular
sections, of sufficient length and breadth, to admit of the largest
human body, male or female. Over each of these divisions, regularly
and distinctly mark in numerals from 1 to 100, more or less, according
to the size of the ground. Then let the parish clerk, sexton, or some
other proper person, keep an alphabetical ruled form, whereon must be
regularly entered the day of the month, and year the person died in,
christian and sir name of the deceased, parish where they resided, and
a space annexed for the number and side of the wall, under which the
defunct was buried, in like manner.
REGISTER OF FUNERALS.
------------+----------------+-----------------+------+-------------
Name of the | | Of what Parish | | Under what
Deceased. | Time of Death. | belonging. | No. | wall buried.
------------+----------------+-----------------+------+-------------
Addison, }| 1816. | St. Leonard’s } | |
Richard. }| January 1. | Shoreditch. } | 1. | South wall.
Barckley,} | | St. Vedast, } | |
Thomas. } | February 18. | Foster Lane. } | 12. | North wall.
------------+----------------+-----------------+------+-------------
I know not whether any similar plan to the above has ever yet been
adopted, if not, I think great waste of ground may be prevented, and
impure vapours greatly kept under. By duly attending to this register
of death, (if I may be allowed the term) a regular gradation will
constantly be attended to: this, will in a great measure prevent danger
to the grave-digger, and the surrounding inhabitants. For instance,
suppose a body to be laid in the grave under No. 1, a second under
No. 2, a third under No. 3, and so on in like manner, until the whole
number of spaces in the cemetery is filled up. By the time the last
numbered grave is opened, if the burying ground is large, the first
body buried under No. 1, will very probably be reduced to ashes, so
that there will then be room to begin again in the same progressive
manner: and if the body should not be quite dissolved (which can easily
be ascertained by a reference to the above register) a few layers of
earth and straw must be allowed as a barrier between the first and last
corpse interred in the same grave. A little attention to some such
method as this, would I am inclined to think, tend greatly to prevent
danger in all confined church yards, preserve very frequently the life
of the grave-digger, and render the air more pure and wholesome to the
surrounding inhabitants of such doleful places. Another improvement
may likewise be introduced, which would greatly tend to disperse
all noxious effluvia, and make these dormitories less gloomy and
unwholesome, I mean where the ground is sufficiently capacious, to
plant it with certain shrubs and flowers. Many of the Eastern Nations
are very particular in this respect, and set us a rare example for
improvement. In the Great Mogul’s dominions, no places afford more
delight to travellers, than their burying grounds. Their tombs are
either built round, square, or with six or eight corners, and covered
over archwise, and the remaining part of the ground is planted with
fruit trees, and flowers, just as if they were laying out and planting
an elysium. How preferable must places of this description be to our
confined, and too often dirty habitations for the dead.
Respecting the sepulchral Lamps of the Ancients, however some
people may be inclined to ridicule and discredit such reports, the
descriptions are most certainly too curious and interesting to be
omitted in a work of this kind. I have therefore selected from the
most respectable documents, those records I conceived applicable to my
work and deserving of notice. They are such descriptions, as I think
ought to be paid much attention to, for in this age of invention, when
chemistry is brought to great perfection, and many modern arts are
on investigation, only found to be improvements of the Ancients, as
is the case with the Gas-lights which shine so refulgent through our
streets, it may probably by the philosophic experimentalist, at some
future period be discovered by what art the Ancients constructed those
perpetual lights which have so often been found in their sepulchres.
Surely nothing can be too great for imitation. If the Mausoleums of
our monarchs, and the tombs of the great could be illuminated, with
a durable pale, silvery, phosphoric light, (which I do not conceive
at all impracticable) it would render the mansions of the dead less
terrific, be awfully grand and sublime, and transmit to posterity the
improvements of the age. The idea of a continual light burning in
our tombs after our decease, would to many, I am well convinced be
so comfortable an anticipation, that the fear of death would be less
dreadful, than when we expect, after the dread catastrophe, to remain
for years in darkness.
That these, my humble efforts for the public good, or that any of
the subsequent stories may be instrumental in preserving the life
of _but one_ fellow-creature, or that the hints I have treated so
superficially, may induce some abler pen to enlarge on a subject so
very important to all mankind, then will my utmost ambition be fully
gratified.
J. TAYLOR.
_Newington,
Nov. 18th, 1815._
THE
DANGER
OF
Premature Interment,
_&c. &c._
Aristotle asserted, that it was more just to assist the dead than the
living. Plato, in his Republic, does not forget, amongst other parts of
justice, that which concerns the dead. Cicero establishes three kinds
of justice; the first respects the Gods, the second the _manes_, or
dead, and the third men. These principles seem to be drawn from nature,
and they appear at least, to be necessary for the support of society,
since at all times civilized nations have taken care to bury their
dead, and to pay their last respects to them.
We find in history, several traces of the respect which the Indians,
the Egyptians, and the Syrians entertained for the dead. The Syrians
embalmed their bodies with myrrh, aloes, honey, salt, wax, bitumen,
and resinous gums; they dried them also with the smoke of the fir and
the pine tree. The Egyptians preserved theirs with the resin of the
cedar, with aromatic spices, and with salt. These people often kept
such mummies, or at least their effigies, in their houses, and at grand
entertainments they were introduced, that by reciting the great actions
of their ancestors, they might be better excited to virtue.--How
different is this respect for the dead, from that practised at present?
The Greeks, at first, had probably not the same veneration for the dead
as the Egyptians. Empedocles, therefore, in the eighty fourth Olympiad,
restored to life Ponthia, a woman of Agrigentum, who was about to
be interred. But this people, in proportion as they grew civilized,
becoming more enlightened, perceived the necessity of establishing laws
for the protection of the dead.
At Athens, the law required that no person should be interred before
the third day; and in the greater part of the cities of Greece, a
funeral did not take place till the sixth or seventh. When a man
appeared to have breathed his last, his body was generally washed by
his nearest relations with warm water mixed with wine. They afterwards
anointed it with oil, and covered it with a dress, commonly made of
fine linen, according to the custom of the Egyptians. This dress was
white at Messina, Athens, and in the greater part of the cities of
Greece, where the dead body was crowned with flowers. At Sparta it was
of a purple colour, and the body was surrounded with olive leaves. The
body was afterwards laid upon a couch in the entry of the house, where
it remained till the time of the funeral. At the magnificent obsequies
which Alexander honoured Ephestion, the body was not burned till the
tenth day.
The Romans in the infancy of their empire, paid as little attention to
their dead as the Greeks had done. Acilius Aviola having fallen into
a lethargic fit, was supposed to be dead; he was therefore carried
to the funeral pile; the fire was lighted up; and though he cried out
that he was still alive, he perished for want of speedy assistance. The
Praetor Lamiæ met with the same fate. Tubero, who had been Praetor was
also saved from the funeral pile. Asclepiades a physician, who lived
in the time of Pompey the Great, about one hundred and twenty years
before the Christian æra, returning from his country house, observed
near the walls of Rome, a grand convoy and a crowd of people, who
were in mourning assisting at a funeral, and shewing every exterior
sign of the deepest grief. Having asked what was the occasion of this
concourse, no one made any reply. He therefore approached the pretended
dead body, and imagining that he perceived signs of life in it, he
ordered the by-standers to take away the flambeaux, to extinguish the
fire, and to pull down the funeral pile. A kind of murmur on this arose
throughout the whole company. Some said that they ought to believe
the physician, while others turned both him and his profession into
ridicule. The relations however yielded at length to the remonstrances
of Asclepiades; they consented to defer the obsequies for a little,
and the consequence was the restoration of the pretended dead person to
life. It appears that these examples, and several others of the like
nature, induced the Romans to delay funerals longer, and to enact laws
to prevent precipitate interments.
At Rome, after allowing a sufficient time for mourning, the nearest
relation generally closed the eyes of the deceased, and the body was
bathed with warm water, either to render it fitter for being anointed
with oil, or to reanimate the principle of life, which might remain
suspended, without manifesting itself. Proofs were afterwards made,
to discover whether the person was really dead, which were often
repeated during the time that the body remained exposed; for there were
persons appointed to visit the dead, and to prove their situation. On
the second day, after the body had been washed a second time, it was
anointed with oil and balm. Luxury encreased to such a pitch in the
choice of foreign perfumes for this purpose, that under the consulship
of Licinius Crassus, and Julius Cæsar, the senate forbad any perfumes
to be used, except such as were the production of Italy. On the third
day the body was clothed according to its dignity and condition. The
robe called the prætexta was put upon magistrates, and a purple robe
upon consuls; for conquerors who had merited triumphal honours, this
robe was of gold tissue. For other Romans it was white, and black for
the lower classes of the people. These dresses were often prepared at
a distance, by the mothers and wives of persons still in life. On the
fourth day the body was placed on a couch, and exposed in the vestibule
of the house, with the visage turned towards the entrance, and the
feet near the door; in this situation it remained till the end of the
week. Near the couch were lighted wax tapers, a small box in which
perfumes were burnt, and a vessel full of water, for purification,
with which those who approached the body besprinkled themselves. An
old man, belonging to those who furnished every thing necessary for
funerals, sat near the deceased, with some domestics clothed in black.
On the eighth day the funeral rites were performed; but to prevent
the body from corrupting before that time, salt, wax, the resinous gum
of the cedar, myrrh, honey, balm, gypsum, lime, asphaltes, or bitumen
of Judea, and several other substances, were employed. The body was
carried to the pile with the face uncovered, unless wounds, or the
nature of the disease had rendered it loathsome and disgusting. In such
a case, a mask was used made of a kind of plaister, which has given
rise to the expression of _funera lavasta_, used in some of the ancient
authors. This was the last method of concealment which Nero made use
of, after having caused Germanicus to be poisoned: for the effect of
the poison had become very sensible by livid spots and the blackness
of the body, but a shower of rain happening to fall, it washed the
plaister entirely away, and thus the horrid crime of fratricide was
discovered.
The Turks have, at all times, been accustomed to wash the bodies of
their dead before interment: and as their ablutions are complete, and
as no part of the body escapes the attention of those who assist at
such melancholy ceremonies, they can easily perceive whether one be
really dead or alive, by examining, among other methods of proof,
whether the _sphincter anis_ has lost its power of contraction. If this
muscle remains still contracted, they warm the body, and endeavour to
recal it to life; otherwise, after having washed it with water and
soap, they wipe it with linen cloths, wash it again with rose water,
and aromatic substances, cover it with a rich dress, put upon its head
a cap ornamented with flowers, and extend it upon a carpet, placed in
the vestibule, or hall, at the entrance of the house.
The Jews, after having washed the body, and anointed it with aromatic
substances of a more or less agreeable odour, according to the rank
and riches of the deceased, bind it round afterwards with bandages of
linen, and cover the head with a handkerchief.
In the primitive church the dead were washed and then anointed; the
body was wrapped up in linen, or clothed in a dress of more or less
value, according to circumstances, and it was not interred till after
being exposed, and kept some days in the house. The custom of clothing
the dead is preserved in France only for princes and ecclesiastics.
In other countries, more or less care is taken to prevent sudden
interments. At Geneva, there are people appointed to inspect all dead
bodies. Their duty consists in examining whether the person be really
dead, and whether they died naturally, or by violence. In the North,
as well as at Genoa, it is usual not to bury the dead till three days
have expired. In Holland people carry their precautions much farther,
and delay the funerals longer. In Spain, the dead are generally clothed
in the dresses of the religious. And in Germany they are dressed in
clothes more or less splendid, with their faces uncovered, and are
generally laid in that apartment, which is nearest the door.
In England, the poorest people keep their dead four or five days, and
sometimes longer and the nearest relations are invited to see them
exposed. If they happen to be buried sooner, this precipitation excites
suspicions among the neighbours, who never fail to address themselves
to the magistrates, and to take the body from the grave, that they may
examine whether it bears any traces of violence.
It is not only in Europe that precautions are taken against precipitate
burials. In Asia, when an inhabitant of the kingdom of Boutain dies,
the body is kept in the house three days all of which are spent in
singing and prayers.
If we instead of following the example of those people, have forgotten
that respect which the ancients entertained for the dead, it is owing
to the prejudices of our education imbibed in infancy. In that early
age nurses and ignorant servants instil into children those absurdities
which they themselves have adopted, and such prejudices are the most
difficult to be overcome. Scarcely has one ceased to live, when he
becomes an object of horror.
The body is abandoned to a set of mercenary people, who begin by
dragging it from a warm bed to place it on some cold straw. Soon after
devotion, or the desire of gain, draws together the undertakers, who
first cover the head and face with a kind of cap, in the shape of a
bag. Sometimes they put cotton into the mouth, the ears, and even into
the fundament, if the last precaution has not been taken before their
arrival. This cotton is placed there to prevent the body from staining
the linen in which it is wrapped up. They then bind the breast and arms
round with a bandage, and make another pass round the lower part of the
belly; the latter comprehends the arms from the elbows, and serves also
to enclose the feet: after this the undertakers wrap up the whole body
in a sheet, which they fix at both the extremities, and either sew or
fasten it with pins, observing always to confine the body as closely
as they can. It is thus that a man is prepared for his coffin; but it
would be difficult to pursue a more pernicious method, even if one had
an intention of accelerating death, or of rendering it impossible for a
person to return to life.
The cold to which a dying man is exposed, that he may not dirty
himself, is attended with the greatest danger, for while the
sphincter remains in contraction, there exists within us some remains
of irritability, and consequently of life. The discharge of the
intestinal matter, is the _Ultimum vitæ_. Thus whilst a child has not
yet voided the mecronium, the man midwife, notwithstanding the most
dismal symptoms, still hopes to recal it to life. On the contrary,
the appearance of this excrement, is considered by him as a certain
sign of death. The stopping of the anus, is attended with no less
inconvenience, as it prevents the action of the parts in which life
still subsists; for the _Abbé Spalanzani_ has proved, that digestion
continues for some time after a person’s death. If these parts could
afterwards recover force, and irritability enough to reanimate the
other organs, the closing the anus would necessarily become an obstacle
to their salutary action. The different situations given to a body, is
sufficient when it has arrived at the last degree of weakness, to cause
or to accelerate death. Of this, however, people are not sufficiently
aware, when they take away the pillow from a dying person, which is
after done, and place the body upon a straw mattrass. Besides, during
life, there exhales continually from the cavities of the head, from the
breast, and from the belly, a vapour, which is always absorbed by the
vessels; but if this vapour be condensed by the cold, it thickens into
drops as may be seen by breathing upon a glass, and then an expansion
takes place, which interrupts the action of the vessels, and opposes
the return of life. Humanity protests against such a detestable mode of
procedure; it tells us that we ought to allow sick people to expire in
a good warm bed, and to remove all those causes which may shorten the
period of their lives.
People are buried sometimes five or six hours after their apparent
death, yet how many examples have we seen of the principle of life
existing a long time after the motion of the heart and arteries has
ceased. We knew that the heart generally weakens by degrees, that its
power ends by not being any longer in a condition to force the blood
into the arteries, that this blood flows towards the large vessels
and that the circulation ceases; but if the tonic motion still
subsists, the circulation may be re-established, and it is above all
in the exterior part of the body, that it may be put in play to act
upon the blood. Being therefore excited by frictions upon the skin,
and by insufflation into the intestines, according to the practice
of the Acadians, it has often brought to life people taken from the
water, who to all appearance were dead. But when the body is buried,
the exterior parts are cold, and in a state of compression; besides
it is not sufficient that this tonic motion should be excited: one
must also remove those obstacles which prevent it from spreading, and
giving play to the organs of the pulse, and of respiration; but the
pressure made upon the breast and upon the belly, while the mouth is
shut, and sometimes stuffed with cotton, becomes an object almost
insurmountable. The pressure upon the belly is attended with this
great disadvantage, that it opposes the sinking of the diaphragm, thus
preventing respiration, and besides compressing the intestines, which
are generally the last part in which the vital principle subsists. It
results then from this precipitate custom, either that the remains of
life are sometimes extinguished, or that they are oppressed for a time,
so that no one never revives, but amidst the horrors of the grave.
The difference between the end of a weak life, and the commencement
of death, is so small, and the uncertainty of the signs of the latter
is so well established, both by ancient and modern authors, who have
turned their attention to that important object, that we can scarcely
suppose undertakers capable of distinguishing an apparent from a real
death. Animals which sleep during winter, shew no signs of life; in
this case, circulation is only suspended; but were it annihilated, the
vital spark does not so easily lose its action, as the other fluids of
the body: and the principle of life, which long survives the appearance
of death, may reanimate a body, in which the action of all the organs
seem to be at an end. But how difficult is it to determine, whether
this principle may not be revived? It has been found impossible to
recal to life some animals suffocated by mephitic vapours, though
they appeared less affected than others who have revived. Coldness,
heaviness of the body, a leaden livid colour, with a yellowness in the
visage, are all very uncertain signs. Mr. Zimmerman observed them all
upon the body of a criminal, who fainted through the dread of that
punishment which he had merited. He was shaken, dragged about, and
turned in the same manner as dead bodies without the least signs of
resistance, and yet at the end of twenty four hours, he was recalled to
life by means of volatile alkali.
It is certain that life, when to all appearance lost, may often, by due
care, be restored. Accidents frequently prove fatal, merely because
proper means are not used to counteract their effects. No person ought
to be looked upon as killed by any accident, unless where the structure
of the heart, brain, or some organ necessary to life, is evidently
destroyed. The action of these organs may be so far impaired, as even
to be for some time imperceptible, when life is by no means gone. In
this case, however, if the fluids be suffered to grow cold, it will be
impossible to put them again in motion, even though the solids should
recover their power of acting. Thus, when the motion of the lungs has
been stopped by unwholesome vapour, the action of the heart by a stroke
on the breast, or the functions of the brain by a blow on the head,
if the person be suffered to grow cold, he will in all probability
continue so; but, if the body be kept warm, as soon as the injured part
has recoverd its power of acting, the fluids will again begin to move,
and all the vital functions will be restored.
It is a horrid custom, immediately to consign over to death every
person who has the misfortune, by a fall, a blow, or the like, to be
deprived of the appearance of life. The unhappy person, instead of
being carried into a warm house, and laid by the fire, or put to a warm
bed, is generally hurried away to church, or a barn, or some other cold
damp house, where, after a fruitless attempt has been made to bleed
him, perhaps by one who knew nothing of the matter, he is given over
for dead, and no further notice taken of him. This conduct seems to be
the result of ignorance, supported by an ancient superstitious notion,
which forbids the body of any person killed by accident to be laid in
an house that is inhabited. What the ground of this superstition may
be, we shall not pretend to inquire; but surely the conduct founded
upon it, is contrary to all the principles of reason, humanity, and
common sense.
When a person seems to be suddenly deprived of life, our first business
is to inquire into the cause. We ought carefully to observe whether
any substance be lodged in the wind-pipe or gullet; and, if that is
the case, attempts must be made to remove it. When unwholesome air is
the cause, the patient ought immediately to be removed out of it. If
the circulation be suddenly stopped, from any cause whatever, except
mere weakness, the patient should be bled. If the blood does not flow,
he may be immersed in warm water, or rubbed with warm cloths, &c. to
promote the circulation. When the cause cannot be suddenly removed, our
great aim should be to keep up the vital warmth by rubbing the patient
with hot cloths, or salt, and covering his body with warm sand, ashes,
or the like.
REMARKABLE
INSTANCES
OF
_People who have been nearly buried alive, but recovered by
resuscitative application_.
I.
A Director of the coach office at Dijon, named Colinet, was supposed
to be dead, and the news of this event was spread throughout the whole
city. One of his friends, who was desirous of seeing him at the moment
when he was about to be buried, having looked at him for a considerable
time, thought he perceived some remains of sensibility in the muscles
of the face. He therefore made an attempt to bring him to life by
spirituous liquors, in which he succeeded; and this director enjoyed
afterwards, for a long time, that life which he owed to his friend.
This remarkable circumstance was much like those of Empedocles and
Asclepiades. These instances would perhaps be more frequent, were men
of skill and abilities called in cases of sudden death, in which people
of ordinary knowledge are often deceived by false appearances.
A man may fall into a syncope, and may remain in that condition three,
or even eight days. People in this situation have been known to come to
life when deposited among the dead.
II.
A boy belonging to the Hospital at Cassel, appeared to have breathed
his last: he was carried into the hall where the dead were exposed, and
was wrapped up in a piece of canvas. Some time after, recovering from
his lethargy, he recollected the place in which he had been deposited,
and crawling towards the door, knocked against it with his foot. This
noise was luckily heard by the centinel, who soon perceiving the
motion of the canvas, called for assistance. The youth was immediately
conveyed to a warm bed, and soon perfectly recovered. Had his body been
confined by close bandages, or ligatures, he would not have been able,
in all probability, to make himself be heard: his unavailing efforts
would have made him again fall into a syncope, and he would have been
thus buried alive.
III.
We must not be astonished, that the servants of an hospital should take
a syncope for a real death, since even the most enlightened people have
fallen into errors of the same kind. Dr. John Schmid relates, that a
young girl, seven years of age, after being afflicted for some weeks
with a violent cough, was all of a sudden freed from this troublesome
malady, and appeared to be in perfect health. But some days after,
while playing with her companions, this child fell down in an instant,
as if struck by lightning. A death-like paleness was diffused over her
face and arms; she had no apparent pulse; her temples were sunk, and
she shewed no signs of sensation when shaken or pinched. A physician,
who was called, and who believed her to be dead, in compliance with the
repeated and pressing request of her parents, attempted, though without
any hopes, to recal her to life, and at length, after several vain
efforts, he made the soles of her feet be smartly rubbed with a brush,
dipped in strong pickle. At the end of three quarters of an hour, she
was observed to sigh; she was then made to swallow some spirituous
liquor, and she was soon after restored to life, much to the joy of her
disconsolate parents.
IV.
A certain man having undertaken a journey, in order to see his brother,
on his arrival at his house, found him dead. This news affected him so
much, that it brought on a most dreadful syncope, and he himself was
supposed to be in the like situation. After the usual means had been
employed to recal him to life, it was agreed that his body should be
dissected, to discover the cause of so sudden a death; but the supposed
dead person over-hearing this proposal, opened his eyes, started up,
and immediately betook himself to his heels.
V.
Cardinal Espinola, prime minister to Philip II. was not so fortunate,
for we read in the memoirs of Amelot de la Houssai, that he put his
hand to the knife with which he was opened, in order to be embalmed. In
short, almost every one knows, that Vesalius, the father of anatomy,
having been sent for to open a woman, subject to hysterics, who was
supposed to be dead, he perceived, on making the first incision, by her
motions, and cries, that she was still alive; that this circumstance
rendered him so odious, that he was obliged to fly, and that he was so
much affected by it, that he died soon after.
VI.
On this occasion, we cannot forbear to add an event more recent, but no
less melancholy. The Abbé Prevost, so well known by his writings, and
the singularities of his life, was seized with a fit of the apoplexy,
in the forest of Chantilly, on the 23rd of October, 1763. His body
was carried to the nearest village, and the officers of justice were
proceeding to open it, when a cry which he sent forth affrightened all
the assistants, and convinced the surgeon that the Abbé was not dead;
but it was too late to save him, as he had already received the mortal
wound.
VII.
In the civil wars of France, on account of religious disputes, when
the Catholics besieged Rouen, in 1562, Francis Civile, one of the most
intrepid gentlemen of the Calvinist party, received a wound which made
him fall senseless from the rampart into the town. Some soldiers, who
supposed him dead, stripped and buried him, with the usual negligence
on those occasions. A trusty and affectionate person he had retained
in his service, desirous of procuring for his master a more honourable
burial, went with design to find his body. His search being fruitless
amongst several dead bodies which were quite disfigured, he covered
them again with earth, but so as that the hand of one of them remained
uncovered. As he was returning, he looked behind him, and perceived
that hand above the ground, and the apprehension he was under, that
such an object might excite the dogs to unearth the dead body for
devouring it, induced him to come back in order to cover it. The moment
he was going to exercise this pious office, a gleam of light from the
moon, just coming from under a cloud, made him perceive a diamond ring
Civile wore on his finger. Without loss of time he takes up his master,
who had still breath in him, and carries him to the hospital for the
wounded, but the surgeon, who had been quite fatigued with labour, and
who considered him as on the point of death, would take no trouble
about dressing his wounds. The servant then found himself obliged to
convey him to his own inn, where he languished four days without any
help. At the end of this time two physicians were found who had the
humanity to visit him. They cleansed his wounds, and by their care and
attention put him in a way to live, and at length, to the astonishment
of every one, he finally recovered.
But the misfortunes of this hero had not yet ended. The town having
been taken by assault, the conquerors were so barbarous as to throw
him out of a window. He fortunately fell on a heap of dung, where,
abandoned by every one, he passed three days, until his relation
Ducroiset had him carried off privately in the night, and sent to a
house up the country, where his wounds were dressed as opportunity
offered. There, after so many disasters, he recovered so perfect
a state of health, that he survived forty years after all these
accidents. That particular providence, which had saved this man from
so many perils, also presided over his birth. His mother dying with
child, during the absence of her husband, had been buried without any
one thinking to extract the child, by the Cæsarian operation, when
fortunately the day after she was interred, the husband arrived, and
learnt with surprise the death of his wife, and the little attention
that was paid to the fruit of her womb. He instantly required her grave
to be dug up, and having had his unfortunate wife opened, Civile was
extracted while living.
VIII.
_Sir Hugh Ackland, after being laid out as a corpse, recovered by a
bumper of brandy._
The late Sir Hugh Ackland, of Devonshire, apparently died of a fever,
and was laid out as dead: the nurse, with two of the footmen, sat up
with the corpse. Lady Ackland, sent them a bottle of brandy to drink
in the night: one of the servants being an arch rogue, told the other
that his master dearly loved brandy when he was alive, and, says he,
I am resolved he shall drink one glass, with us now he is dead. The
fellow accordingly poured out a bumper of brandy, and forced it down
his throat: a guggling immediately ensued, and a violent motion of
the neck, and upper part of the breast. The other footman and the
nurse were so terrified, that they ran down stairs; and the brandy
genius hastening away with rather too much speed, tumbled down stairs
head-foremost. The noise of the fall, and his cries, alarmed a young
gentleman that slept in the house that night, who got up, and went to
the room where the corpse lay, and, to his great surprise, saw Sir Hugh
sitting upright. He called the servants; Sir Hugh was put into a warm
bed, and the physician and apothecary were sent for. These gentlemen in
a few weeks perfectly restored their patient to health, and he lived
several years after. The above, says the writer, is well known to
the people in Devonshire, as in most companies Sir Hugh used to tell
this strange circumstance, and talk of his resurrection by his brandy
footman, to whom, when he really died, he left a handsome annuity.
IX.
_Sir Gervase Scroop._
In Edge-hill fight, Sir Gervase Scroop, fighting valiantly for his
king, received twenty-six wounds, and was left on the ground amongst
the dead: next day, his son Adrian obtained leave of the king, to find
and fetch off his father’s corpse, and his hopes pretended no higher
than a decent interment thereof: such a search was thought in vain
amongst so many naked bodies with wounds disguised from themselves, and
where pale death had confounded all complexions together. However, he
having some general hint of the place, where his father fell, did light
upon his body, which had some warmth left therein: the heat was with
rubbing within a few moments improved to motion, that motion within
some hours into sense, that sense within a day into speech: within
certain weeks he arrived to a perfect recovery, living more than ten
years after, a monument of God’s mercy and his son’s affection. The
effect of this story (says Dr. Fuller) I received from his own mouth in
Lincoln College.
X.
“We know some,” saith Alexander Benedictus, “who have been laid in
their graves half alive; and some noble persons have been disposed in
their sepulchres, whose life has lain hid in the secret repositories
of the heart. One great lady was thus entombed, who was after found
dead indeed; but sitting, and removed from her place, as one that had
returned to life amongst the carcases of the dead. She had pulled off
the hair from her head, and had torn her breast with her nails, signs
too apparent of what had passed; and that she had long in vain called
for help, while alone in the society of the dead.”
XI.
_Monsieur Mercier, in his Tableau de Paris, relates the following
extraordinary Fact._
About seventeen years ago (i. e. 1765) an innocent young country
girl, of handsome and engaging person, was hired as a servant by a
man[1] at Paris, who was unfortunately for her contaminated with
almost every vice incident to human nature. This wretch was so struck
with her beauty, that he left no means untried to seduce her; but
she was innately virtuous, and resisted all his wicked attempts.
Being a stranger at Paris, and without any friend to receive her, she
dreaded to quit the house of her persecutor, and with equal reluctance
continued. At length her virtuous resistance so inflamed this wretched
being, that not being able to gratify his desires in the manner he
wished, he formed the most diabolical plan of vengeance that ever
entered the human mind. He privately conveyed a quantity of plate,
marked with his name, into the box where the girl kept her clothes, and
then declaring he had been robbed, sent for an officer of Police, had
her taken into custody, and made his report to the magistrate of the
things that were missing. The officer on opening her box, and finding
the articles supposed to be stolen, communicated the information to the
magistrate, who, being fully persuaded of her guilt, committed her
to prison. Here she fell on her knees, and supplicated the monster,
but in vain; her tears were the only proof of her innocence, in
opposition to the apparent fact, laid to her charge, which appeared to
be incontrovertible. She was shortly after brought to trial, where,
with the aid of the master’s circumstantial evidence, she was found
guilty, ordered for execution, and in short was hanged. But mark the
secret workings of Providence in behalf of an innocent victim! The
executioner was a novice in his profession, and in adjusting the rope
round the neck of this poor creature, he fastened it so awkwardly,
that respiration was not entirely stopped. After hanging the usual
time, the body was cut down, and sold to a Surgeon, (formerly in
France, the bodies of criminals after execution, were a part of the
hangman’s perquisites, who had liberty to dispose of them as he thought
proper) who ordered it to be removed to his house for dissection.
In the evening, when about to commence the operation, he thought he
discovered an unusual warmth in several parts of the body. On holding
a glass close to her mouth, he perceived a dulness and humidity on
its surface, which led him to conclude, that the action of the lungs
had not entirely ceased. The almost fatal knife immediately fell
from his hand, and with great humanity he had the body put in a warm
bed, where, after applying the usual remedies in cases of suspended
animation, he had the satisfaction to find his efforts effectual, in
restoring to life this unfortunate innocent. The Surgeon then sent for
a Priest, to whom he was known, and in whose prudence and secrecy he
could confide, and after telling him the particulars of this strange
affair, requested him to be witness of his conduct, and to further aid
him with his advice. When this poor unfortunate creature opened her
eyes, and beheld the priest standing near her, she believed herself in
the regions of the blest, clasping her trembling hands together, she
exclaimed,--“Eternal and heavenly Father, you know my innocence!--Have
mercy on me!”--Nothing could be more moving and expressive than the
supplications of this much injured girl, who being roused from a
death-like state, fancied herself in the presence of the Supreme
Judge, and, in fact, could hardly be prevailed upon to desist from her
invocations to the priest as to the Almighty: and so strongly was the
idea of her late dreadful sufferings impressed upon her, that it was
with much difficulty she could be persuaded she was again an inhabitant
of the earth.
[1] Note--Celibacy in men was very common in France before the
Revolution, and it was there no disparagement to a girl’s character to
have lived in the house of a bachelor as servant.
XII.
_Remarkable Resuscitation in Sweden._
On the 23rd of March, 1756, a peasant, about sixty years of age, of
the province of Scheeren, in Sweden, having been made very drunk with
brandy, was, in his way home, thrown down by the violence of the wind:
and as he was too far gone in liquor to recover his legs again, he
soon fell asleep where he lay. Not being discovered till the next
morning, he was found then frozen stiff, and taken up for dead. He was
put into a shell in order for interment, when fortunately Mr. Nauder,
a physician of the province of Gothland, being on a journey, arrived
on the spot where the accident happened. He examined the body; the
face, and all the extremities, were cold as ice, and the cheeks of an
extraordinary red colour. The joints were immoveable, the eyes were
fixed. Not the least motion of the heart or pulse, or the smallest
signs of respiration were left; and the feet were so completely
frozen, that the toes were all become black, except the great toe on
the right foot. After some time contemplating on these unfavourable
circumstances, Mr. Nauder imagined he could perceive some warmth at the
pit of the stomach, which encouraged him to hope the poor object might
be recovered; but there being no Apothecary, or medicines of any kind
to be had in the place, he was induced to try the following methods.
He begun, by ordering the arms, legs, and loins of the patient, to be
rubbed with coarse woollen cloths. He put on the stomach and belly warm
cloths of the same kind, which were frequently changed, increasing
their warmth by degrees. At the same time, the patient was laid on a
mattrass on the floor; no care being as yet taken about his feet,
which the physician supposed it was impossible to save. On reflecting
afterwards, however, on the custom of putting frozen meat into cold
water, in order to thaw it, without prejudice, he had a mind to try the
same expedient. But, as the joints were as yet inflexible, he could
not find means to immerse the feet in water, so was obliged to content
himself with ordering wet linen cloths, frequently changed, to be
wrapped round them.