Long out of print, this book was written by a prominent physician to reassure the many 19th century people who were worried about being buried alive. One of the authors himself had a narrow escape with live burial, as his collaborator writes: "Dr. Vollum first became interested in the important question of Premature Burial in consequence of his own very narrow escape from live sepulture, having been pronounced dead from drowning, and prepared, for interment, when consciousness happily returned spontaneously." This edited version of the book extracts the most spine-chilling stories of narrow escapes and living burials from a mass of historical material. It includes such chapters as Animal and So-called Human Hibernation, Narrow Escapes from Premature Burial, Premature Burial of Doubtful Cases, Death-Counterfeits, The Danger of Hasty Burials, Sudden Death, Embalming and Dissections, and Count Karnice-Karnicki's Invention.
