BURIED ALIVE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 124, 26 May 1911, Page 6

BURIED ALIVE.

,Tam?s K. Williamson, of Upper Edmonton, London, spnds a letter on premature burial. He says:—"With reference to a sudden dep.tb reported in the " Auckland Star" of February 11, kindly permit mc to say that the restorations to life of the apparently dead in German waiting mortuaries illustrate the difficulty that not seldom exists in distinguishing the dead from the living. Hence every now and then we read of startling rases of pTemature burial, "with, their attendant horrors. Quite a number of cases have been published dnrinpr the past twelve months in the Press, and it must be obvious that for every discovered case there are hundreds never brought to light'; It is admitted by experienced medical practitioners that it is. by no means easy to diagnose cases of suspended animation, catalepsy and trance, from deatb, anfl most terrible mistakes have occurred, and will continue to occur ■until the present day haphazard and dangerous system of examination and death certification is radically reformed by law." He suggests the establishment of public mortuaries for the reception of the apparently dead until all doubt on the subject is dispelled.