“Madame de P----, aged eighteen years, and subject to hysteria, apparently died, and for forty hours she presented all the signs of real death. All possible means of restoring her to life were taken, but proved of no avail. _Five physicians of Lyons were called in, and they finally agreed, positively, that the lady was really dead._ The funeral preparations were made; but owing to the supplications of a sister of the deceased the burial was delayed, when after a while the patient recovered. She said that she had been all the time aware of all that was going on, without being able to give a sign, and without even being desirous of attempting it.” (F. Kempner, p. 38.) “In 1842 a remarkable affair occupied the attention of the court at the city of Nantes. A man apparently died, and _his death was certified to both by the attending physicians and the medical inspector_; he was put into a coffin, and the religious ceremonies were performed in good style. At the end of the funeral service, and as he was about to be buried, he awoke from his trance. The clergy and the undertakers sent in their accounts for the funeral expenses; but he refused to pay them, giving as his reason that he had not ordered them; whereupon he was sued for the money.” (F. Kempner, p. 39.) Neither can we share the optimistic views of Sir Henry Thompson as to the rarity of premature interment. The results of searching and independent inquiries and study in various countries by each of the authors of this treatise all point the other way, and the various authorities whose names and opinions are cited elsewhere in this volume confess their astonishment at the number of cases brought to light during their investigations. The Rev. H. R. Haweis also, in his work “Ashes to Ashes: A Cremation Prelude” (London, 1895, now out of print), advocates cremation on the ground of preventing living burial, and quotes several cases of persons buried while in a state of trance. During a discussion on the merits and demerits of cremation in the _Birmingham Gazette_, September 17, 1895, Lieutenant-General Phelps, an able and judicious observer, advocated cremation for similar reasons, and said that “the use of a crematorium would entirely prevent that ghastly accident, the burial of the living. There is no room to doubt that this frightful catastrophe is of continual occurrence. The phenomena of trance are little understood, and a certificate of death is held by most of us to justify the burial of the ‘corpse,’ dead or alive. Those of us who object to the risk of being buried alive should do all in our power to promote the success of this sanitary contrivance for disposing of our dead.” The writer of the following communication, which appeared in the _Sunday Times_, September 6, 1896, has substantial reasons for preferring cremation to the risks of burial:-- “BURIAL DANGER AND ITS PREVENTION. [COMMUNICATION TO THE “SUNDAY TIMES.”]