[RELUCTANT ANSWERS.] Q. 2112--Have you ever had any instances within your knowledge, or brought to your notice, of cases where persons have been buried alive?--Never. Q. 2113--Do you think such cases occur frequently?--I have no means of knowing. Q. 2114--Supposing the public think they do sometimes, your methods (of medical death-certification) would be a great barrier to anything like that?--Yes. Q. 2115--The doctor’s examination and identification of the body would enable them to detect in many instances if such an occurrence was likely to take place?--I think so. Further questions were asked of the same witness by Dr. Farquharson. Q. 2178--You do not believe in people being buried alive?--I do not think that occurs in Manchester. Q. 2179--Do you think it occurs anywhere?--I do not know. Q. 2180--We read occasionally very horrifying descriptions of bodies having been found to have turned in their coffins. How do you explain that?--I am not able to explain it. A correspondent of the _Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal_, July 22, 1893, p. 92, writes:-- “PREMATURE BURIAL. “Sir,--The newspapers continue to give us fresh accounts of premature burials. Seeing how frequently cases are heard of (in spite of the exhumations being not one-thousandth per cent. of the interments), the occurrence is probably far more common than is generally supposed. It is, therefore, surprising that medical men have not discovered an infallible evidence of death--whatever the cause of death may be; or a simple means of proving, beyond the possibility of doubt, that life is extinct. Further, the application of such a test should, by law, be made to form part of the certificate of death.--I am, Sir, your obedient servant, “LUX. “July 3.” VERIFICATION OF DEATHS. “In Paris and the large French towns medical inspectors, called _médecins verificateurs_, are appointed, whose business it is to visit each house where a death occurs, and ascertain that the person is really dead, and that there are no suspicious circumstances connected with his or her decease. More than eighty qualified medical men are employed for this purpose in Paris. “In the rural districts of France this system is not in force; two witnesses making a declaration to a civil officer that a death has taken place, is considered sufficient. The burial is not allowed to take place until at least twenty-four hours after the declaration.”--_Blyth: Dictionary of Hygiene and Public Health._ [VERIFICATIONS ILLUSORY.]