Premature Burial

What can be more dreaded than death? Perhaps being buried alive. This fate, as William Tebb states, is a "gruesome subject" and one "which he has a strong natural repugnance" about discussing. Yet this apprehension has stalked humanity since ancient times and demands scientific inquiry, lest more suffer this outcome. Hence, the ancient Egyptians watched over their dead for several days before embalming, and Greeks of antiquity removed a finger from the deceased to determine if life remained. And even in today's high technology environment the thought of being buried alive lives on. As Pliny attests "Such is the condition of humanity, and so uncertain is men's judgement that they cannot determine even death itself."

• ISBN-13: 9781598382136
• Page Count: 458
• Book Height: 8 x Width: 1.0625 x Length: 5 inches