SEMBLANCE OF DEATH.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 9

SEMBLANCE OF DEATH.

Some very. earnest people in Paris are endeavoring to launch a crusade against the laws and customs that make premature burial possible. The subject is one in which Parisians are interested particularly, since burial in that city is never delayed longer than two days after death. One of the leaders of tne crusade is Dr Thainot, a prominent medical. man, who is said to have devoted years to the study of the melancholy subject. A lecture whicii he gave recently in the Sorbonne attracted a great deal of attention. Dr Thainot mentioned a number of cases in which persons who appeared to be dead were buried before the mistake could be rectified. In the retreat from Moscow a French general was shot, and as he was believed to be dead an order was issued that he should be buried in the snow. The interment had been completed when the general's aide-de-camp expressed a wish to take the body back to France. The body was exhumed and laid on a car, and withm a few hours the general recovered consciousness. He lived to attend the funeral of the officer who had ordered his buriaL Another case mentioned in Dr Thainot's lecture was that of a young priest who suddenly became insensible while preaching m a crowded cathedral. A medical man declared that he was dead, and arrangements were made for the funeral. The young priest was unable to speak or move, but he understood all that was going on, and at the last moment he regained the use of his faculties and averted a tragedy. The story of this young priest was told to the French Senate many years ago by Cardinal Donnet, and a tremendous impression was created when the Card ins 1 remarked, "He is to-day among you, asking you to "prevent tragedies." Dr Thainot declares that in spite of all the attention that has been given to the subject science has not discovered a certain sign of death. Apparent death resembles real death so closely in every respect that it seems to be impossible to distinguish with any certainty between the two states.