TO PREVENT BURYING ALIVE. Proposed Movement to Organise a Humane Burial Society.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 135, 2 January 1886, Page 4

TO PREVENT BURYING ALIVE. Proposed Movement to Organise a Humane Burial Society.

: an impression in the minds of a V, g . e n .r bet in this that posed to be dead have been buried alive. It is conceded that instances of this charac-' t.er have not been, and in the nature of things, cannot be frequent, but the exhu mation of two .bodies during the period named has disclosed ..the fact that the remains when exposed to" light occupied a position entirely different from tff in SJfy wer ° originally placed. One of rha? XZ V*°Z Gd unmi «takable signs that there had been revivification after burial, the position of the lower limbfl, arms onffl "ft" T k A S * certain that the coffin there had been a terrible though vairf Sv q S 6 f ? r h] f r fi' In the other The body was found Jying f ace downward, with arms distended the grave clothes being^t of their natural place and much rent A scientific society here with which wellknown physicians and citizens are connected has discussed this important matter, and at a meeting to be held early in November will take steps to organise a humane burial society, the object of which shall be to take charge of the remains of suppoPed deceased persons and care for them for a sufficient length of time, and under such condition as will make their being buried alive an impossibility. A member of the society, when spoken to regarding the proposition, Raid: "The awakening of public interest in this subject is one of our objects. To most people the idea of establishing such a society will seem strange, and did I not know how many in Bridgeport feel about the matter I should hesitate in taking active pait in tne movement You may not know it, perhaps, but in Bridgeport and all over the country there are thoße who have a nervous dread that they may be buried alive Probably I could name hundreds of my personal acquaintances who cherish this awful fear and there are cases to show that such apprehensions are not without foundation." ~ Another member said: "The medical fraternity now virtually confess that none of the old accepted tests used to determine whether or not the vital spark has fled can be taken as conclusive. The absence of warmth in the body, the apparent absence of circulation, the eye test, the test with the mirror held before the organs of respiration, has been proved defective in welL authenticated cases By a mere accident, and sometimes through an apparent excess of precaution, persons pronounced by high medical authority to be dead have emerged from their trance condition which gave the simulation of death. Most medical men will say that the only positive proof of death, one that cannot under any circumstauces lead to an error, ia the setting in of decomposition. The aim of the proposed society will be to apply to our members and such others as we may accept the charge of this only and absolute test. Such an object is worth working for, even if it falla to the lot of one in 100,000 to suffer the doom of being put under ground alive. We know that many have puffered this fate, how many there is no means of determining. The number deeply interested in the subject is more than would naturally be believed M