Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [322]
attempted to steal her jewelry, and made such exertion in extracting one ring that the woman recovered and was saved. After this resurrection she is said to have had several children. This case is also often quoted. Zacchias mentions an instance which, from all appearances, is authentic. It was that of a young man, pest-stricken and thought to be dead, who was placed with the other dead for burial. He exhibited signs of life, and was taken back to the pest-hospital. Two days later he entered a lethargic condition simulating death, and was again on his way to the sepulcher, when he once more recovered.
It is said that when the body of William, Earl of Pembroke, who died April 10, 1630, was opened to be embalmed, the hand raised when the first incision was made. There is a story of an occurrence which happened on a return voyage from India. The wife of one of the passengers, an officer in the army, to all appearances died. They were about to resort to sea-burial, when, through the interposition of the husband, who was anxious to take her home, the ship-carpenters started to construct a coffin suitable for a long voyage, a process which took several days, during which time she lay in her berth, swathed in robes and ready for interment. When the coffin was at last ready the husband went to take his last farewell, and removed the wedding-ring, which was quite tightly on her finger. In the effort to do this she was aroused, recovered, and arrived in England perfectly well.
It is said that when a daughter of Henry Laurens, the first President of the American Congress, died of small-pox, she was laid out as dead, and the windows of the room were opened for ventilation. While left alone in this manner she recovered. This circumstance so impressed her illustrious father that he left explicit directions that in case of his death he should be burned. The same journal also contains the case of a maid-servant who recovered thrice on her way to the grave, and who, when really dead, was kept a preposterous length of time before burial.
The literature on this subject is very exhaustive, volumes having been written on the uncertainty of the signs of death, with hundreds of examples cited illustrative of the danger of premature interment. The foregoing instances have been given as indicative of the general style of narration; for further information the reader is referred to the plethora of material on this subject.
Postmortem Anomalies.--Among the older writers startling movements of a corpse have given rise to much discussion, and possibly often led to suspicion of premature burial. Bartholinus describes motion in a cadaver. Barlow says that movements were noticed after death in the victims of Asiatic cholera. The bodies were cold and expressions were death-like, but there were movements simulating natural life. The most common was flexion of the right leg, which would also be drawn up toward the body and resting on the left leg. In some cases the hand was moved, and in one or two instances a substance was grasped as if by reflex action. Some observers have stated that reflex movements of the face were quite noticeable. These movements continued sometimes for upward of an hour, occurring mostly in muscular subjects who died very suddenly, and in whom the muscular irritability or nervous stimulus or both had not become exhausted at the moment of dissolution. Richardson doubts the existence of postmortem movements of respiration.
Snow is accredited with having seen a girl in Soho who, dying of scarlet fever, turned dark at the moment of death, but in a few hours presented such a life-line appearance and color as to almost denote the return of life. The center of the cheeks became colored in a natural fashion, and the rest of the body resumed the natural flesh color. The parents refused to believe that death had ensued. Richardson remarks that he had seen two similar cases, and states that he believes the change is due to oxidation of the blood surcharged with carbon dioxid. The moist tissues suffuse carbonized blood, and there
It is said that when the body of William, Earl of Pembroke, who died April 10, 1630, was opened to be embalmed, the hand raised when the first incision was made. There is a story of an occurrence which happened on a return voyage from India. The wife of one of the passengers, an officer in the army, to all appearances died. They were about to resort to sea-burial, when, through the interposition of the husband, who was anxious to take her home, the ship-carpenters started to construct a coffin suitable for a long voyage, a process which took several days, during which time she lay in her berth, swathed in robes and ready for interment. When the coffin was at last ready the husband went to take his last farewell, and removed the wedding-ring, which was quite tightly on her finger. In the effort to do this she was aroused, recovered, and arrived in England perfectly well.
It is said that when a daughter of Henry Laurens, the first President of the American Congress, died of small-pox, she was laid out as dead, and the windows of the room were opened for ventilation. While left alone in this manner she recovered. This circumstance so impressed her illustrious father that he left explicit directions that in case of his death he should be burned. The same journal also contains the case of a maid-servant who recovered thrice on her way to the grave, and who, when really dead, was kept a preposterous length of time before burial.
The literature on this subject is very exhaustive, volumes having been written on the uncertainty of the signs of death, with hundreds of examples cited illustrative of the danger of premature interment. The foregoing instances have been given as indicative of the general style of narration; for further information the reader is referred to the plethora of material on this subject.
Postmortem Anomalies.--Among the older writers startling movements of a corpse have given rise to much discussion, and possibly often led to suspicion of premature burial. Bartholinus describes motion in a cadaver. Barlow says that movements were noticed after death in the victims of Asiatic cholera. The bodies were cold and expressions were death-like, but there were movements simulating natural life. The most common was flexion of the right leg, which would also be drawn up toward the body and resting on the left leg. In some cases the hand was moved, and in one or two instances a substance was grasped as if by reflex action. Some observers have stated that reflex movements of the face were quite noticeable. These movements continued sometimes for upward of an hour, occurring mostly in muscular subjects who died very suddenly, and in whom the muscular irritability or nervous stimulus or both had not become exhausted at the moment of dissolution. Richardson doubts the existence of postmortem movements of respiration.
Snow is accredited with having seen a girl in Soho who, dying of scarlet fever, turned dark at the moment of death, but in a few hours presented such a life-line appearance and color as to almost denote the return of life. The center of the cheeks became colored in a natural fashion, and the rest of the body resumed the natural flesh color. The parents refused to believe that death had ensued. Richardson remarks that he had seen two similar cases, and states that he believes the change is due to oxidation of the blood surcharged with carbon dioxid. The moist tissues suffuse carbonized blood, and there