“The reason and necessity for extreme caution in such matters were impressed vividly upon me some years ago, when visiting the crypt of the cathedral at Bordeaux, where two bodies were shown, to whom, I think it obvious, this most terrible of all occurrences must have happened; and I am unable to attribute the position in which they were found in their coffins, and the look of horror which their faces still displayed, to any action of _rigor mortis_ or any other _post-mortem_ change, but simply and solely to their having awakened to a full appreciation of their most awful position. In the case of one of these bodies, which was found lying on its side, the legs were drawn up nearly to a level with the abdomen, and the arms were in such a position as to convey the impression that both they and the legs had been used in a desperate, but futile, attempt to push out the side of the coffin; whilst the look of horror remaining on the face was simply indescribable. In the other case, the body was found lying on its face, the arms extended above the head, as if attempting to push out the top of the coffin. In the year 1870 these two bodies were still on view; and the attendants used to dwell at some length upon the horrors of being interred alive. It appears that some years prior to 1870, in making excavations in a church-yard in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral, the workmen came upon a belt of ground that apparently was impregnated with some antiseptic material, as all the bodies within this belt, to the number of about two hundred, were found to be almost as perfect as when they were buried; of these a selection appears to have been made; and at the time I mention about thirty or forty were exhibited, propped up on iron frames, in the crypt of the cathedral. The impression left on my mind at the time was that; if out of two hundred bodies so discovered there could be two in which, to say the least, there is a strong probability of live interment, this awful possibility was a thing that should receive more attention than is generally devoted to it.--I am, Sir, your obedient servant, “H. S. “Bayswater, June 10, 1884.” [PROTESTS OF GENERAL COUNCILS.]