ACOtfiENTS—BMEEOEItClES—I'OtSOKS. 117 There are few fears, perhaps, as widely and as universally en- tertained as the fear of being buried alive; and there is probably no apprehension which, after a careful and extended examination, has as little in fact to support it. Where it has become necessary in some few reported instances, to examine the remains after burial, the change in position of the body from that in which it was supposed to have been at the moment of interment, is doubt- less due in most instances to the formation and sudden escape of gases, the result of decomposition, from cavities of the body. Any one who has attended a funeral, and observed the movements necessarily given the casket in taking it from the house to the cemetery, must see how readily the cylindrical form given the corpse by the conventional manner of pinioning the arms to the chest, and the feet to each other, permits it to be influenced in car- rying ; and it is rather a matter of surprise that the expected posi- tion,0 flat on the back, is as of ten found as it is. Either of these explanations will account for the change of position sometimes seen after burial, without for an instant calling in the dreadful and unjustifiable supposition that burial had taken place before life was extinct. A gentleman who for years past has given his attention to .inves- tigating every reported case of premature or near premature burial in this country, states that he has never found substantial truth in one of them. In the majority of instances, there were no such persons, or they had no knowledge even of the related cir- cumstances. In many countries in Europe, where tlie remains of persons de- ceased arc exposed under official inspection for some time after reported death, statistics of the most reliable character extending over an uninterrupted period of many years, do not reveal, among the hundreds of thousands thus placed, that one has ever afterward shown a sign of life. While it is possible that a person might be supposed to be dead and yet not, the usual method practiced in cities by undertakers, 1 1Q 10 ACCIOBNT3—EMEBOENOIE9—POISONS. carefully and completely surrounding the body with ice, as soon as they can, is well calculated to do away with the possibility of being buried alive. It is not an unheard-of thing for the remains to be so packed within three hours after supposed death; and that, too, without any reason being apparent for the indecent liaste, except the possible convenience of the men sent by the un- dertaker. Under scarcely any circumstances should this be permitted especially in the case of those who have died on the highways, at hotels, and other places, away from relatives and personal friends. During the prevalence of fatal epidemics, particularly of cholera, where there is fear of contagion, every known precaution should be taken to prevent even the most remote possibility of the thought ever afterward arising that undue haste occurred in placing the remains beyond friendly assistance in case it could have been of use. Among the tests usually applied to a person supposed to be dead, is the absence or sensibility. While it is true that sensibility to punctures, pinches, blisters, and burns demonstrates that the person is not dead ; the want of sensibility to such things only proves that the individual does not feel them ; or feeling, is incapable of responding to them. Another test is the absence of circulation as revealed by the action of the heart to the hand of a bystander; or the absence of the impulse of the blood by that organ to the artery of the wrist properly known as the pulse. There is little real value in the ab^ sence of both of these signs. The heart may be acting feebly or the attendan; unable to detect the movement. The cessation of breathing is also often relied upon. There may be no movement of the walls of the chest, as is often seen in per- sons just brouglit from the water, exposed to carbonic acid and other gases, who afterward revive without even assistance. Be- sides. the method employed for learning whether breathing takes place may be unreliable. A mirror held for the purpose near the ACCIDENTS——EMERGENCIES——POtSOSS. 119 mouth, to collect the moisture of the breath, does not always re- veal it even when there ; nor is the force of the breath always strong enough to deflect the flame of a candle held near, nor to give movement to a wisp of cotton held near the lips. It is sometimes thought that the person is dead when he is cold, and alive if he preserves his warmth. A moment's reflection will show how little reliability can be placed in these signs. For in- stance, the drowned are often and the frozen always cold ; and both have been restored. It is said, too, that those suffocated by stran- gulation or inhalation of certain gases preserve their heat, for some time after undoubted death, as long even as twelve hours after unconsciousness has commenced. The general appearance of the face, the softness, sinking, and relaxation of the countenance, the dimness of the eyes have all been considered, from the days of Hippocrates, as furnishing valu- able signs of death. While of recognized value to the mind of the physician, they can not, of themselves, be wholly relied on for the purpose, but must be regarded, when properly interpreted, as only presumptive evidence of the possibility of near or complete death. In this connection, it ought to be remarked that the commonly resorted-to test of suspected death, of exposing the eye to the light, is of much less value in establishing the fact of complete dissolution than is commonly imagined. Life may be present, but the eye as lacking in sensibility to light as other organs to their proper stimuli; besides, contraction of the pupil may be already so complete that more should not be expected. One of the most reliable signs of death evident to ordinary ob- servers, is the peculiar stiffness or rigidity of the body (rigor mortis\ but as a sign closely resembling it is sometimes seen in life as well as in suspended animation, certain essential points of dis- tinction between the two must be kept in mind to establish the difference between them. If the contraction or rigidity of the muscles is due to their con- vulsive action, instead of being the stiffness of death alluded to 120 ACCIDENTS——EMERGENCIES——POISONS. considerable difficulty will be found in changing the position of the limb, and after it has been done, there will be a constant dis- position to revert to its former state. In death, however, the limb is apt to remain as last placed. In the peculiar nervous condition known as Catalepsy, the ten. dency for the limb to remain as placed is likewise seen as it is in the rigor mortis, and in some cases of this disease, professional advice may be necessary to decide the difference between them. When the body has been subjected to the influence of cold, as when the person is "frozen," a stiffness like that of death is found, but it affects not only the muscles different from the stiffness of death, but extends in like degree to the abdomen, breast, and other organs. Besides, when the position of a frozen member is changed, a slight cracking noise is made and felt, caused by the movements against each other of the atoms of ice contained in the part. If from any cause the person supposed to be dead is cold and soft, while a certain degree of stiffness ought to be seen, interment should not take place, but might be postponed until a physician can make a satisfactory examination of the case. It is well known that all inanimate bodies, whatever may be their nature or composition, under the influence- of the law of the diffusion of heat, acquire the same temperature as other suit- ably exposed bodies about. Animate bodies, unless cold-blooded on the other hand, keep nearly a fixed temperature of their own' Never mind how the inanimate body feel, to the hand, a ther. mometer. properly applied, shows that it possesses about the same heat, and that it is the heat of the air of the room ; that is of course, if the piece of furniture, clothing, etc., has been long enough exposed in the room. A human body, if life no longer exists, is as inanimate as any thing else; and, after exposure to the currents of air of the room should show by the thermometer, throughout its entire mass a ACOtCBNTS — BManOBtClBS - fOISONB. 121 uniform degree of heat, no greater than the bed on which it lies, or the table standing by. This test, for obvious reasons, is not practicable unless the tem- perature of the room is considerably below the range of 98° and 105° Fahrenheit. All authorities, however, agree upon the reliability of one symptom of death, and it may safely be said, the only reliable one: it is a well-marked putrefaction. By this is not meant the appearance of putrefaction, but the un- doubted fact of it. In some forms of Dysentery, a peculiar cada- veric odor is present, but it does not by any means imply that death has taken place, nor even that it must. The same sugges- tive odor is seen when gangrene of a limb has occurred, or destruc- tive ulceration is going on. Purple blotches of the skin, with other signs of decomposition, are occasionally met with, occurring with other supposed signs of death, without death really having taken place, or in fact a likelihood of it. The putrefaction under consideration cannot well be detected by the unprofessional, but the question should always be submitted to the skill of a medical man. It usually makes its first appear- ance over the abdomen, close down toward the groin and ex- tending upwards. At these and contiguous points the skin first turns a dusky yellow, soon merging into a greenish tint, more or less mottled, and in a short time becomes softened to the touch, with the evident odor of decomposition. The color alone is not to be depended on, but the mentioned later stages, of what the color mi>y be the beginning of, should positively decide the case.