Syncope, however, is not a disease, though often certified as such, but is merely a symptom of certain maladies, or a manifestation of suspended animation from unascertained cause. In Hoblyn’s “Dictionary of Medical Terms,” p. 632, syncope is described as--“Fainting or swoon; a sudden suspension of the heart’s action, accompanied by cessation of the functions of the organs of respiration, internal and external sensation, and voluntary motion.” There appears, therefore, every probability that, with careless or ignorant medical practitioners, syncope is not seldom mistaken for trance, and a certificate of death may be given where there is merely a suspension and not a termination of life; and this probability is reduced to a certainty when we learn the number of premature burials and narrow escapes reported by Winslow, Bruhier, Köppen, E. Bouchut, Lénormand, F. Kempner, Moore Russell Fletcher, Gannal, Gaubert, Hartmann, and other recognised authorities. Dr. James Curry, Senior Physician to Guy’s Hospital, and Lecturer on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the introduction to his “Observations on Apparent Death,” London, 1815, 2 ed., p. 1, says--“The time is still within the recollection of many now living when it was almost universally believed that _life_ quitted the body in a very few minutes after the person had ceased to breathe. Remarkable examples to the contrary were, indeed, upon record; but these, besides being extremely rare, were generally cases wherein the _suspension_, as well as the _recovery of life_, had occurred _spontaneously_; they were, therefore, beheld with astonishment, as particular instances of Divine Interposition.” It is believed that the majority of the members of the medical profession still entertain the idea that a human being is dead when breathing can no longer be detected, as in the cases of reported sudden deaths; and, except in those which occur from drowning, or suffocation through noxious gases, attempts are very rarely made to promote restoration, and, unless they return to life spontaneously while above ground, there are good reasons to fear that an appreciable number do so under ground. The prevailing belief in the existence of sudden deaths is one of the chief causes of the terrible mistakes that lead to live burials. If this delusive idea were removed, those concerned, such as physicians, undertakers, relatives, and friends, would treat a person who unexpectedly took on the appearance of death as one needing careful attention by physician and nurse to bring him round to health again, as is usually done in cases of fainting. If trance were understood, doctors would be on the lookout for it; but, as it is not understood, it is called death, and we bury our mistakes under ground.