ere also fearful of premature interment and subjected the
defunct to every test; among others, one was to examine the
contractility of the sphincter and, which shows their keen observation
of a well-known modern medical fact.

According to the Memoirs of Amelot de la Houssaye, Cardinal Espinola,
Prime Minister to Philip II, put his hand to the embalmer's knife with
which he was about to be opened; It is said that Vesalius, sometimes
called the "Father of Anatomy," having been sent for to perform an
autopsy on a woman subject to hysteric convulsions, and who was
supposed to be dead, on making the first incision perceived by her
motion and cries that she was still alive. This circumstance, becoming
known, rendered him so odious that he had to leave the community in
which he practiced, and it is believed that he never entirely recovered
from the shock it gave him. The Abbe Prevost, so well known by his
works and the singularities of his life, was seized by apoplexy in the
Forest of Chantilly on October 23, 1763. His body was carried to the
nearest village, and the officers of justice proceeded to open it, when
a cry he sent forth frightened all the assistants and convinced the
surgeon in charge that the Abbe was not dead; but it was too late to
save him, as he had already received a mortal wound.

Massien speaks of a woman living in Cologne in 1571 who was interred
living, but was not awakened from her lethargy until a grave-digger
opened her grave to steal a valuable ring which she wore. This instance
has been cited in nearly every language. There is another more recent
instance, coming from Poitiers, of the wife of a goldsmith named
Mernache who was buried with all her jewels. During the night a beggar
attempted to steal her jewelry, and made such exertion in extracting
one ring that the woman recovered and was saved. After this
resurrection she is said to have had several children. This case is
also often quoted. Zacchias mentions an instance which, from all
appearances, is authentic. It was that of a young man, pest-stricken
and thought to be dead, who was placed with the other dead for burial.
He exhibited signs of life, and was taken back to the pest-hospital.
Two days later he entered a lethargic condition simulating death, and
was again on his way to the sepulcher, when he once more recovered.

It is said that when the body of William, Earl of Pembroke, who died
April 10, 1630, was opened to be embalmed, the han