Seriously, this matter of being buried alive, is very unpleasant. The dead, the half-dead, and the dying, were brutally neglected, in the earlier days of Greece. Diogenes Laertius, lib. 8, _de vita et moribus philosophorum_, relates, that Empedocles, having restored Ponthia, a woman of Agrigentum, to life, who was on the point of being buried, laws began to be enacted, for the protection of the apparent dead. At Athens, no one could be buried, before the third day; and, commonly, throughout all Greece, burial and cremation were deferred, till the sixth or seventh day. Alexander kept Hephestion's body, till the tenth day. I have referred, in a former number, to the remarkable cases of Aviola and the Prætor Lamia, who revived, after being placed on the funeral pile. Another Prætor, Tubero, was saved, at the moment, when the torch was about to be applied. I have also alluded to the act of Asclepiades, who, in disregard of the ridicule of the bystanders, stopped a funeral procession, and reanimated the body, about to be burnt. A perusal of the _Somnium Scipionis_, and of the accounts of Hildanus, Camerarius, and Horstius--of Plato, in his Republic--and of Valerius Maximus, will satisfy the reader, that premature burials were, by no means, uncommon, of old. The idea of reviving in one's coffin--one of Fisk and Raymond's "_Patent Metallic Burial Cases, Air-Tight and Indestructible_"--is really awful! How truly, upon such an awakening as this, the wretch must wish he had been born a savage--a Mandan of the upper Missouri--neither to be burnt nor buried--but placed upon a mat, supported by poles--aloof from the accursed wolves and undertakers--with a reasonable supply of pemmican and corncake, and a calabash of water, by his side! The dread of such an occurrence has induced some very sensible people, to prefer cremation to earth and tomb burial. Of this we have a remarkable example, in our own country. An infant daughter of Henry Laurens, the first President of Congress, had, to all appearance, died of the small pox. She was, accordingly, laid out, and prepared for the grave. A window, which, during her illness, had been kept carefully closed, having been opened after the body was shrouded, and a stream of air blowing freshly into the apartment, the child revived, and the robes of death were joyfully exchanged, for her ordinary garments. This event naturally produced a strong impression, upon the father's mind. By his will, Mr. Laurens enjoined it upon his children, as a solemn duty, that his body should be burnt; and this injunction was duly fulfilled.