SAVED FROM THE GRAVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9612, 5 October 1909, Page 3

SAVED FROM THE GRAVE.

DANGER OF BEING BURIED ALIVE. REMARKABLE CASES. Grim stories of tho clangers of premature burial were toH by Dr Walter Hadwen in his evidence before the ! Home Office Committee on Coroners ! and Coroners' Law, in London. First lie referred to a girl,aged seven • teen, who in 1895 was suffering from catalepsy after having spent practically ilia whole of the previous day listening to music or singing in special services in Wells Cathedral. "On arrival at the house," said Dr Hadwen, "I was informed by the weeping relatives that I was too late —she was dead. The poor girl had fallen in a swoon, while sitting in a chair, soon after her arrival home though every effort had been made to rouse her, they all proved ineffectual; even then I heard her distracted friends her name in her ears without effect. "I had lifted the wrist from the bed in order to examine the pulse, and was struck by the fact upon releasing it the forearm remained suspended, and continued in a state of suspension for some considerable time. I then put other limbs in var- ' ious positions, placed the body in absurd postures, when, to the amazement of the onlookers, such positions were maintained, and apparently would have been maintained indefinitely. At the close of the sixth day I noticed a slight sign of consciousness; I told her t) sit up, and she did so, and opened her eyes vacantly." In reply to questions, Dr Hadwen said: "Here was a case in which she was supposed to be dead by the friends, and they could make no impression whatever upon her." tie emphasised the need for a doctor seeing the body after death before giving a certificate. Dr Hadwen proceeded to narrate a second case. He had been attending for some time, about seven years ago, a three-year-old child who had suffered from convulsions, followed by exhaustion. ''There seemed," he said, "no hope of recovery, and 1 left my little patient on* night fully believing I had seen him for the last time alive. It was late on my country rounda next day, and when I arrived at the cottage I noticed "the blinds were drawn, and, upon enteting, my eyes at once fell upon a couch pushed into a corner of the room, and covered by a white sheet, whilst the broken-hearted parents were weeping by the settle. I sat down and tried to comfort them, and finally left directions as to the hour when they might send for the death certificate. j "Befoje leaving I walked towards \ the couch, and c'raw back the cover- j 1 iiig from the pale waxen face. The \ body had been laid out in readiness ! for the shell, which the undertaker was expected to bring in a few minj utee. As I stood looking intently at j the child I fancied I detected the I ' slightest movement of the chest. It i could but be imagination, I thought; | ! neverthlees instinctively I felt for | the wrist, but failed to detect any ! pulse. Still, I watched—there again was that tremor. I applied my 'scope to the region of the hesrt without response, but feeling dissatisfied, I undid the nightdress and applied the instrument to the bare sk'n I could hardly believe my ears- tiere j was undoubiecly a beat! I shall never ; forget the shriek which the mother \ ! gave when I said: "Mrs W , your l , child is not deal!" I at once applied j hot flant.ells to the feet, and gently massaged the body for two or three j hours, and had the satisfaction be- I fore I left —long after the undertaker had come and gone—of seeing the child taking nourishment in its mother's arms. He is now a fine, strong, healthy lad. That boy was in Glouceiter only last week." Dr Hadwen was then questioned by Dr Willcox, a member of the Committae: I would like to ask you one or two questions. On applying the stethoscope to the bare skin, you heard the heart beat? Yes.—That is not a sign of death? Of course not; but still I could not hear it on the first occasion, and it was only with the greatest care, because I fancied 1 saw this slight movement. Now here comes the point. I left that child, believing it would be dead in the morning. It was only by the merest accident, so to speak, that I turned in. Had a person come and told me it was dead, and I had not seen it, I might have given a certificate of death. The Chairman of the Committee: A careless doctor might have given a certificate? Yes. A third case cited by Dr Hadwen occurred during the Gloucester smallpox epidemic, in the early part of 1896. A child, believed tu be dead of cor.flue-it smalipox, was removed from one of the sma Ipox hospital wards to the mortuary, and next day an attendant passing by heard a child crying, and gave warning to one of i the nurses. The little one was promptly carried back to the ward and recovered.