“To say nothing of the merely human aspect of this important question, to bury until decomposition has actually set in might possibly be shown to be a violation of Jewish Law. It is now commonly admitted that even expert medical men cannot be absolutely certain of death until some signs of decomposition have shown themselves. Now, so strict is the Jewish Law as regards the risk of destroying life, that it is prohibited to even move or touch a man or woman who is on the point of death, lest we hasten, by a moment, their dissolution. It is, therefore, no less than a violation of the Jewish laws against murder to preserve a custom that involves even the minutest scintilla of risk of premature burial. It is high time that this question was seriously taken up by the Jewish clergy and laity.”[8] In the province of Quebec no interment is permitted within twenty-four hours, and the Jews reconcile themselves to this delay, which, however, is far too brief to ensure safety. It will be said that the danger referred to is not so imminent in the United Kingdom as in France, Spain, Portugal, or even in the United States, owing to the existence of a more temperate climate, and the longer period allowed for burial. This may be so and yet the danger be considerable. It must be remembered that in the rural districts nothing in the shape of examination to establish the fact of death is practised; while in certain parts of Cornwall, throughout the greater part of agricultural Ireland, amongst the Jews in all cities and towns, as well as those who in all places are certified as dead of cholera, small-pox, and other infectious and epidemic diseases, burial often follows certified death quite as quickly as in the Continental States before mentioned. In all the public resorts on the Continent the hotel-keepers, through an insensate fear of death and the injury which the possession of “a corpse,” dead or alive, may do to their business, have them coffined and disposed of, particularly in the night, within a few hours of their supposed death. Dr. D. de Lignières, in “Pour ne pas être Enterré Vivant,” Paris, 1893, says he has known of burials under such circumstances six hours after death. This author says that these scandalous homicidal acts are of every-day occurrence, and that the rapacious landlords have no difficulty in obtaining certificates of death from the accommodating _mort verificateurs_. Every one who visits the _hôtels des villes d’eaux, des stations balnéaires_, may verify (he says) the truth of this statement for himself. In short, these are willing disciples of the “Latest Decalogue”:-- “Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive Officiously to keep alive.” CHAPTER XI. FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.