February 3, 1893.J 



SCIENCE. 



61 



klein ; letztere konnen auch gaQzlich fehlen. Bisweilen entsteht 

 eine anillare Prolification der Bliiten, und zwar immer in der 

 Weise, dass in den Achseln von zwei bis drei Kelchblattern sich 

 neue Knospen Widen, aus denen aber wohl niemals normale 

 Bltiten entstehen. 



Uebrigens versteht es sich von selbst, dass an den weniger 

 heimgesuchten Pflanzen auch ziemlich normal entwickelte Aeste, 

 Blatter und Bliiten vorkommen. 



Die von Aphelencliu^ ormerodis nov. spec, und A. olemUis nm. spec. 

 verursachten Pflanzenkrankheiten werden in der zweiten Abteil- 

 ung dieses Aufsatzes beschrieben werden. 



BURIED ALIVE. — ONE'S SENSATIONS AND THOUGHTS. 



BY WARREN K. MOOREHEAD, 5215 WASHINGTON AVE., HYDE PARK, 

 CHICAGO. 



The title of a paper written for Science — "Buried Alive" — 

 seems rather sensational, and, so far as the title goes, the article 

 might be more properly published in one of the daily newspapers. 

 I have made bold to write upon an unpleasant experience of the 

 year 1888 at the suggestion of several friends interested in study- 

 ing suspended respiration. They have told me that cases of com- 

 plete burial in earth (the subject being conscious meanwhile) 

 where the person "interred" escaped with his life and was able 

 to give a satisfactory or intelligent account of his feelings, are 

 extremely rare. They suggested that, as my accident would fur- 

 nish material for consideration among medical men interested in 

 kindred studies with themselves, it had better be described. 



A mound was being excavated near Frankfort, Ross County, 

 Ohio, in August. At the centre the wall (from the base-line up- 

 wards) was fifteen feet high. It was undermined by the work- 

 men, and, as I bent down to examine a small bone uncovered in 

 the process of undermining, a mass of earth equal to several cart- 

 loads suddenly dropped from above. 



There was no one in the excavation, the men having gone on 

 top preparatory to cutting down the undermined wall. As the 

 earth cracked loudly, I looked up and started to rise. The falling 

 mass knocked me back about five feet, so that I fell with my head 

 and shoulders renting upon a heap of loose earth. The falling 

 wall was, of course, seen only for an instant. It looked black, 

 and the rush of wind it caused I well remember. My head and 

 shoulders were somewhat higher than my legs, possibly a foot. 

 The feet were spread apart. There was little pain, only pressure, 

 intense pressure. It forced the buttons of my light field costume 

 partly inside the flesh; my watch-chain left a bright-red mark 

 along my left side. I could feel the watch strongly pressed 

 against two ribs (these were broken). The skin over my forehead 

 seemed being cut, but it was the pressure of my hat forcing the 

 flesh between the laced straws. A knife in my pocket seemed 

 bumingly hot. Just under the small of my back lay a large clod. 

 The pain at the point of contact was considerable at times, and 

 my spinal column seemed slowly breaking. Then the pain stopped 

 and I could feel nothing. 



Thoughts coursed like lightning, — past life, future, and home. 

 I did not think much of the situation, except to wonder if I could 

 breathe when I got out. One singular thought occurred. I re- 

 membered reading of women who, in war times, buried their 

 husbands in ash piles or sand-heaps to prevent their being drafted 

 Into the army. I had often wondered if it were possible for one 

 so placed to breathe through a tube, as described in the stories. 

 I remember trying to move a band, even a finger. One could 

 not have been more firmly held in a mould. My arms and hands 

 were perfectly motionless. The chest could not be inflated or 

 moved the slightest distance. On the contrary, the downward 

 pressure forced all the air out of my lungs. I remember how hot 

 the earth against my face became as the last breath was forced 

 from me. Just in front of my mouth and chin was a slight hol- 

 low, formed by the arching of two good-sized lumps of clay. I 

 could move my chin and open and shut my mouth. That was 

 the only part of my entire body that could be moved. I remem- 

 ber trying to keep my mouth shut to keep out the dirt. But after 

 a few seconds my mouth instinctively opened, and, the arch hav- 

 ing broken down, earth filled it. I remember the horrible sensa- 



tion of trying to dislodge the earth and the fear of strangling that 

 suddenly seized upon me. I then felt that I was doomed to per- 

 ish, but had no fear and did not particularly care. 



It was sixty seconds, so the surveyor says, when the men 

 reached my head. The laborers think it was over a minute, but 

 I am inclined to believe the surveyor. I felt the earth move 

 slightly above my head. That gave me hope. I had not thought 

 much of rescue, but I gathered my remaining strength. A shovel 

 passed across the top of ray head, cutting the scalp ; I remember 

 feeling it as if a hot iron had struck me. Then they uncovered 

 my head and removed the earth from my mouth and eyes. For 

 some unaccountable reason they stopped for an instant. The sur- 

 veyor says the pressure was so great upon the imprisoned portions 

 of my body that the blood was forced to the head, and the veins 

 stood out so strongly he feared they would burst. Even with the 

 head uncovered I could not breathe. They soon had me laid out- 

 side upon some wheat sheaves. I remember, just as they carried 

 me out, seeing a little yellow ' • wild canary " perch upon a tall 

 thistle near at hand. I heard it sing a sweet song. As the bird 

 flew away, I seemed to follow it, dancing about the fields, perch- 

 ing upon this and that shrub, just as it did. The sky seemed to 

 have a different color from that usually noticed, I was impressed 

 with its grandeur, — the scenery of the surrounding country was 

 remarkably beautiful, and as I observed all these things they 

 affected me, and I cr'ed. 



They rubbed my limbs, I could see the men at work, but could 

 feel nothing. The partial paralysis of my limbs continued for 

 some days. To some extent the accident has affected my mind. 

 I cannot now enter an underground cave, or mine, or stand under 

 an overhanging bank without an effort; it requires all my will to 

 go in them. I also often dream of caving banks and experience 

 precisely the same feelings as I did in reality. I neglected to 

 state that the earth above my head was about three feet thick, 

 that over my legs was much deeper. Many persons burled in 

 gravel pits and in earth not nearly so deep have been taken out 

 dead. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 In a letter to Dr. Charles S. Minot the method used by Dr. 

 M. von Lenhossek to obtain his remarkable results on the nerves 

 of earth-worm, is described as follows: The method cited by 

 me corresponds to Golgi processorapido: Pieces of an earth-worm, 

 each three-quarters millimeters long are placed for three to five 

 days in about ten cubic centimeters of the following mixture: 

 Bichromate of potassslum, 3.5 per cent, four parts; perosmic 

 acid, 1 per cent, one part. The pieces are then dried off with 

 filter paper, and placed for about forty- eight hours in the second 

 solution of 0.75 per cent nitrate of silver, to every two hundred 

 cubic centimeters of which one drop of formic acid is added. As 

 soon as the pieces are placed in the second solution a reddish 

 brown silver precipitate is thrown down upon their surfaces; the 

 success of the method depends upon this precipitate being 

 formed in the interior of the tissues also. The pieces after this 

 treatment must be hardened rapidly in absolute alcohol (probably 

 a large quantity of 96 per cent alcohol will act equally well), and 

 are then imbedded in elder pith and cut with the microtome. If 

 the reaction has been successful, the nerve-fibres and the cells 

 from which they spring will show the well-known and charac- 

 teristic Golgi coloration (almost black owing to the silver deposit). 

 If the first attempt at the reaction fails, the coloration may be 

 often obtained by repeating the sojourn in the two liquids as 

 above directed. But even after double treatment the reaction is 

 often not accomplished, but when it succeeds it amply repays all 

 the trouble and vexation it causes. The sections must be mounted 

 at once in Canada Balsam dissolved in xylol (or benzole), and 

 left without a cover-glass. (In the second %olume of the " Ana- 

 tomische Hefte " a method is described by which Golgi prepara- 

 tions may be made so permanent that they may be mounted with 

 a cover glass.) It is by means of this method that Lenhossek 

 made the discovery that the sensory nerve-fibres arise from the 

 sensory cells of the epidermis and branch in the same manner 

 as in vertebrates, forming within the central nervous system a 

 branch running tailward and another running headward. 



