LIVING “CORPSES."

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3315, 20 October 1919, Page 7

LIVIN G “CORPSES."

PREMATURE BURIAL DANGER l NOT GREAT. I NOISES FROM COFFINS. 1 There are many possible explana-.! Hons" of the phenomenon which caus-‘ ed a sensation in the Dublin church‘ when two women declared they ‘heard A means proceeding from a coffin in‘ which lay a body that was awaiting‘ burial, says a “Sunday Chronicle” correspondent.‘ The man had not moved, nor had he given any indication of life. What then had happened? It may, of course, the that inlagina.rtion had played one of its strange pranks on the sensitive brains of the women. It is much more likely, howlever; either that the woodwork of the icoffin was strained or that some gas was being expelled from the manés lbody. Cases of this kind have 07*.lcurred more than once. The peril. of premature burial is not alarmingly great, though solitary instances continue to be recorded from time to time_ One occurred recently in New York. Anna Held, the ‘lctress, }after a brief’ illness, died in that city. "There is little doubt, however but }that she was buried prematurely. Someone passing the‘ coffin heard groans and persistent tapping. The coffin lid was removed and it was discovered that the body had moved as ‘though in a conscious struggle for rfrccdom. « n F It is not so long since at a wake in ‘the South of Ireland, the “corpse" tstartled the assembled mourners by suddenly sitting up. Yet as was’ afterwards ‘declared, there was every evidence that death had taken place. A similar unexpected “reawake.ning” oc—curred subsequently in the North of England. A In this case arrangements had been made for an elaborate funleral.

“The danger of such happenings are too remote‘ to cause -general anxiety,” said a medical man with an extensive general practice, “but the greatest care should always be taken to make certain that death has occurred. There are from time to time examples of suspended animation, in which most of the appearances of death are counterfeited. I can recall a case in my own experience. ‘A young girl was taken ill, and apparently‘ died.. I do not quite know what made me pause before issuing a. certificate but there was an indescrfiiable something which suggested that life had not passed away. “The -girl lay in that state for three days, after which she moved, began breathing perce*p“tibly' and rapidly recovered her normal health.”

Many people. leave instructions in their wills to guard themselves against premature burial. One of the most elaborate series of instructions ever issued was that of a Mr Garson, who willed fhat “after my death, a vein shall be opened, my heart -pierced with :1 pin, and my body subsequently burned.”

Still as the doctor whose words I have quoted, stated with emphasis, “cases nf pl'ematul'e burial are so exceptional as to be pmctically negligible.’*’