“These two narrow escapes from burial alive have further impressed me with one of the perils attending the disposition of the dead--I mean the danger of hasty embalming. As you know, in most cases the doctor who has had the patient is not called in after death, and very often the relatives of the deceased expect the undertaker, if embalming is to be done, to proceed with it at once. All the embalming schools teach that the only proper way to thus treat the body is by use of fluids through the arteries. But in the lectures on the subject no period that should be permitted to elapse before it is begun is prescribed, and, as a rule, it follows dissolution as quickly as possible. “I contend that there should be some law or official rule governing the matter, because after the artery is punctured and the fluid goes through the whole body, it is sure to destroy any spark of life that might remain. I have never met with any cases of resuscitation myself, but have had instances of deaths that made me hesitate in the work of embalming. Some months ago a man came to me fifteen minutes after a relative had breathed his last, and asked me to embalm the body. I went to the house, and, after seeing the corpse, refused, saying that I would not do it until after the expiration of twelve hours. The man had died of consumption, yet, for fear of it being a case of suspended animation, I would take no chances. “At another time a person had died of dropsy. Within half an hour I was summoned. The attending physician had not been there, and twenty-four hours afterwards he gave a certificate of death from cancer. The body was very warm when I arrived, and neighbours who had kindly volunteered to prepare it were doubtful if life was extinct. I had the corpse laid on an embalming table for two hours, and then placed it in what is known as a Saratoga patent box, in which are pans filled with salted ice, so arranged that cold air circulates around the body. Had this been a case of suspended animation, it would have taken several hours to dispel the heat within the corpse. “Of course there are some supposed unmistakable signs. The only positive signs of dissolution are those which depend on molecular change or death-rigidity of the muscles of the whole body, and putrefaction of the tissues. These are most marked in organs and tissues the vital functions of which are the most active. The action of the heart, the movements of respiration, may be reduced as to be altogether imperceptible, so that the functions of circulation and respiration appear to be arrested. This is occasionally observed in temporary syncope, in which a person to all appearances dead has, after a time, regained consciousness and recovered.