The late Lady Burton, widow of Sir Richard Burton, provided that her heart was to be pierced with a needle, and her body to be submitted to a _post-mortem_ examination, and afterwards embalmed (not stuffed) by competent experts. Lady Burton, it is said, had been subject to fits of trance on more than one occasion, and was terribly afraid that such an attack might be diagnosed as death. Those who are most apprehensive of apparent death being mistaken for real death are the clergy and other ministers of religion, and funeral directors--in other words, those who know most about it. Let anyone introduce the subject when in company, on a suitable occasion, and we shall hear of startling cases sufficient to shake credulity, and to compel us to realise the danger to ourselves, as well as to all other members of the community, under our present loose customs. If this dread of premature burial is not universal, as some writers and authorities aver, it is certainly widely extended; and the evidence set before our readers will show that it is by no means without foundation. [WIDELY EXTENDED.] The _Lancet_, March 17, 1866, says:--“There are many apparently trustworthy stories afloat, both in this country and on the Continent, which favour the belief that premature interment not only does sometimes take place, but is really of not so unfrequent occurrence as might be supposed. Some few believe it to be not an unlikely event, and break out into a cold perspiration at the thought of the possibility of the misfortune happening to themselves. Others have actually made provision in their wills that means should be taken, by cutting off a finger, or making a pectoral incision, etc., to excite sensibility, in case any should remain after their supposed death; whilst a French countess, in order to escape so terrible a fate, left a legacy to her medical attendant as a fee for his severance of the carotid artery in her body before it was committed to the tomb.” The Rev. John Kingston, chaplain R.N., writing to the (London) _Morning Post_, September 18, 1895, says--“The danger of being buried alive appears to be a very real one; and I can testify, from my experience as a clergyman, that a great many persons are haunted by the dread of that unspeakably horrible fate.” The writer further expresses a hope that the ventilation of the subject will be followed by practical results.