The Rev. Walter Whiter, in the “Disorder of Death,” 1819, p. 362, calls attention to one of the reports (of Humane Societies) where the following passage occurs: “Monsieur Thieurey, Doctor Regent of the Faculty of Paris, is of opinion that one third, or perhaps half, of those who die in their beds are not actually dead when they are buried. He does not mean to say that so great a number would be restored to life. In the intermediate state, which reaches from the instant of apparent death to that of total extinction of life, the body is not insensible to the treatment it receives, though unable to give any signs of sensibility.” Maximilian Misson, in his “Voyage Through Italy,” vol. i., letter 5, tells us “that the number of persons who have been interred as dead, when they were really alive, is very great, in comparison with those who have been, happily, rescued from their graves.” He then proceeds to substantiate his statement by the recital of cases. [VARIOUS ESTIMATES.] Dr. Léonce Lénormand, in his able treatise, “Des Inhumations Précipitées,” has given his deliberate opinion that a thousandth part of the human race have been, and are, for want of knowledge, annually buried alive. This we regard as an under, rather than an overestimate. M. Le Guern, in his “Danger des Inhumations Précipitées,” which has passed through several editions, declares that he has personally met with forty-six cases of premature burial in twelve years. He devoted thirty years to the study of the facts, and collected a list of two thousand three hundred and thirteen cases from various sources. He estimates the number of premature burials in France at two per thousand. On February 27, 1866, the petition of M. Cornot was presented to the French Senate by M. de la Gueronnière, stating that a comparatively large number of persons are annually buried alive, which he supported by statistics. The author has tried to procure a copy of this petition, but these documents are not published by the State department. The following appears in the _Lancet_, June 14, 1884, p. 1104:-- “BURIED ALIVE. “Sir,--That this is an incident that does happen, and frequently has happened, has for some years past been my firm conviction; and during epidemics, particularly in the East, its possible contingency has frequently caused me much anxiety; and when the burial has, for sanitary reasons, had to be very hurried, I always made it a rule to withhold my certificate unless I had personally inspected the body and assured myself of the fact of death.